Two of A Kind
by Danny vs A Month
Summary: Sometimes, all it takes to make a change is a failed experiment with a very unpleasant past.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Reenlisting

Damian sighed as another explosion shook the building. His opponent stopped, looking around.

"You shouldn't take your eyes off your opponent," Damian said.

His opponent turned back to him, throwing a roundhouse kick and Damian blocked it with his forearms before instantly wrapping an arm around the man's upper leg before hitting the opposite shoulder with a palm strike then sweeping the man's other leg out from under him and slamming the man to the ground. Then, he puled the scalpel he had kept hidden from his waistband and drove it into the man's jugular before slicing out of that and through the man's carotid artery, careful to avoid the ensuing blood spray. Then, he tossed the scalpel aside, taking the man's P99 pistol, three spare magazines, and the man's thirteen inch survival knife.

"Not that I haven't loved my stay here, but I have other matters to attend to," Damian said, smiling to the now dead soldier. "Oh, and I think I'll be keeping these, that alright with you?"

He picked up the scalpel and walked to the gate, using it to pick the lock then pushing the door open, walking out of the cell as several pained shouts echoed from further along the hallway. He walked through the hallway then turned right, away from the control room and then went down two flights of stairs, reaching the armory that the soldiers here used. Walking around a Sokovian Hydra base barefoot and shirtless wearing only a pair of boxers and the same kind of white scrub pants that a doctor might wear at work was all well and fun, but he was getting a bit chilly now that he wasn't fighting. He quickly switched the pants for a pair of black cargo pants and Tee-shirt kept in one of the soldiers' personal lockers, then took a ballistic vest and elbow and knee pads. Then, he left the armory and headed back up one flight of stairs then left down a hallway to the exit, walking calmly away from the base. As he walked, two soldiers sprinted around the corner, shouting for him to freeze. He groaned, then spun, shooting both in the heart, dropping them before spinning again, a boy his age with a thin beard and bleached blonde hair with brown roots showing stopping from a blur to standing in front of him, arms crossed.

"I'm not staying here," Damian said. "I'm sick of this place."

"They have taken care of you," Pietro said.

"Taken care of me?" Damian scoffed. "They beat the shit out of me daily."

"They are training you," Pietro countered.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. trained me," Damian said. "I'm a better fighter than these lousy excuses for soldiers. I was the one selected to be special forces before S.H.I.E.L.D. fell apart, remember?"

"I know," Pietro said. "You have told me a million times."

"Exactly," Damian said. "Now get out of my way. I have places to be."

"You should come with us," Pietro said.

"I'm not like you two," Damian said. "I'm not loyal to Hydra. I'm loyal to Colonel Fury. Assuming he's still alive."

"But we would not beat the shit out of you like S.H.I.E.L.D.," Pietro said.

"Forget it Pietro," Damian said. "My ass is getting on the next plane to America."

"Fine," Pietro said. "Would you like me to tell her goodbye?"

"Yeah," Damian said. "If you don't mind. Tell her I'll see her around, I'm sure. We have a way of bumping into each other at the worst possible times."

Pietro snorted and nodded. Then, he was gone in the blink of an eye.

Damian walked away from the base, reaching town and making his way to the airport, ignoring the crowds and the mechanical robots attempting to control them. Once at the airport, he payed for an open seat on a fight to the U.S. and was on a plane ten minutes later, watching as the facility grew smaller in the distance.

* * *

"Hey, it's Damian," Damian said as the other end finally picked up. "Yes that Damian...I got locked up in Sokovia, thanks to you, as you may recall...No, I'm not trying to guilt trip you...Because I would like to get a job...What are you kidding? They enjoyed beating me every day...Thank you...When and where? How am I supposed to...They just pulled up. You already knew I was here didn't you? Thank you."

He hung up, shaking his head and grinning then put his phone away, raising a hand in greeting to the two men in fancy suits that had pulled up in the black SUV. They both stared at him in silence and he sighed, rolling his eyes and walking over to them.

"Get in," the one by the passenger seat instructed.

He rolled his eyes, climbing into the back seat and the other two both got back in before the driver pulled away, leaving the airport behind. Damian sat in silence as they drove. After roughly ten straight hours, they pulled to a stop at the beginning of a dirt road. Damian got out and the SUV drove away.

"Thanks for the lift!" Damian called after them. "Assholes."

He turned, walking down the dirt road. It stretched on and on before finally dead-ending at a twenty by twenty patch of dirt and dead grass, and a rusted out, half-buried Volkswagen Bug off to the side.

"Well that was pointless," Damian said, looking at the car. "There's no way it's that easy."

He walked over to the Volkswagen, reaching it just as the hood, the front half being the only half not totally buried in a pile of hard-packed dirt, swung open on surprisingly quiet hinges, one eye staring at him from its place beside an eyepatch.

"Hello Colonel," Damian greeted.

"I'm not a Colonel anymore," Fury said. "Come on in."

Fury climbed back down the ladder underneath the car's hood and Damian followed, pulling the hood closed as he did. Inside was a bunker with a rack of guns off to one side and a table in the middle. On the far wall was a bed, and beside that was a stack of boxes of MREs.

"Nice place," Damian said. "I would have figured you lived at the Avengers' tower, or some other non-S.H.E.I.L.D. S.H.E.I.L.D. base."

"I'm just here to pick up a few things," Fury said. "Now, Agent Romanov said you wanted a job."

"Yes Sir," Damian nodded.

"Well, officially, I can't employ you," Fury said. "Even more so than before. However, there is a small...matter, I need someone to take care of. It doesn't require your skills, simply diplomacy and a couple of questions. But since you want a job, there it is."

"What do you need?" Damian asked.

"There's a small country in Africa, Wakanda, that has a special kind of metal called Vibranium," Fury said.

"The metal used to make Captain America's shield," Damian nodded.

"Partially," Fury said. "His shield was alloyed with Adamantium too. Anyway, you are to go to Wakanda, ask for an audience with the King, he'll be expecting you, just say that you're there on my behalf, then, ask him to upgrade that thing you've got. Tell him that if he helps you out it'll square his debt to me."

"The King of Wakanda owes you a debt?" Damian asked, eyebrow arched.

"When Hydra's files were released to the world, some of the files regarding certain Wakandan secrets were deleted first," Fury said.

"And why does helping me equate sparing Wakanda global humiliation?" Damian asked.

"Let's just say that you'll be of a lot of help eventually," Fury said.

"I suppose you're not going to get specific, right?" Damian asked.

"No," Fury said.

"Alright then," Damian said. "How am I getting there?"

"There's a private jet waiting for you in the field a quarter mile to the north," Fury said.

Damian nodded and turned, walking toward the ladder only to stop and look at the gun rack.

"You know, I had to leave behind a perfectly good pistol and knife on the flight here," Damian said.

"By all means," Fury said, gesturing to the guns.

Damian walked over to the rack and picked up a P99 like the one he had left behind, then picked up six spare magazines and an eight inch knife with saw teeth on the back of the blade. Then, he climbed out of the bunker and began to head north.

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	2. Chapter 2

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

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Business

Damian stepped off the jet and blinked in surprise. When Fury had told him to meet with the Wakandan King, he had failed to mention that he'd be waiting at the airstrip. Damian walked down the steps and stopped in front of him.

"Your highness," Damian greeted. "It's an honor. I didn't expect to see you waiting here. I hope I didn't keep you too long."

"Not at all," the king, T'Chaka, said. "Colonel Fury told me you would be coming and that assisting you would repay him for losing certain information. So, how can I help?"

"I was told you could do some...upgrading for me," Damian said. "I have a prosthetic that I'd like to be a bit...harder."

"A prosthetic?" T'Chaka asked.

"That's right," Damian nodded. "A 'gift' from Hydra. They took my own right arm and gave me a shiny new one. But it's a bit...sub par. It's not excessively flexible and it's only steel."

T'Chaka nodded and motioned for Damian to join him in his car. Damian did as requested and the driver pulled away from the jet, driving to a building hidden in a jungle, a massive black panther-shaped mountain next too it, too perfect to not have been formed by someone. Damian followed his royal host into the facility and down to a lab where a man that looked like him but younger waited.

"This is my son, T'Challa," T'Chaka introduced.

"It's an honor to meet you," Damian greeted. "I'm Damian."

"Pleasure," T'Challa said.

"T'Challa, please have our scientists get to work making him a new prosthetic," T'Chaka said. "Vibranium and Adamantium."

T'Chaka nodded and led Damian through the lab to a room where several scientists were looking at a computer.

"Hello your highness," one of the scientists greeted. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"This man would like Vibranium and Adamantium augments on his prosthetic," T'Challa said.

"Of course," the scientist said. "May we see it?"

Damian nodded, pulling his shirt off and holding out his right arm. The scientist blinked, staring at the seemingly normal arm. Damian pulled out his knife, using a blunt spot on the blade to scratch some of the skin-tone paint off of the arm, revealing its shiny metal.

"Ah," the scientist said, stepping forward, feeling the arm. "Up to the shoulder, yes?"

"Yeah," Damian nodded. "Stops at the joint, except for the artificial muscles, those are a little higher in spots."

"I see," the scientist nodded. "It's quite impressive. I wouldn't think it's overly flexible though."

"It's not," Damian said. "I don't suppose you can do anything about that while you put Vibranium on it could you?"

"We could try," the scientist nodded. "We'll need to scan it though. And is this all you would like?"

"How much can I have?" Damian asked.

"I spoke with my father earlier," T'Challa said. "You can have whatever you feel necessary to settle the debt. The agreement with Colonel Fury was for you to get whatever you ask for."

"Alright, is it alright if I ask what sorts of information was deleted?" Damian asked.

"Information about Vibranium, the process for creating the Vibranium-Adamantium alloy, and some information about our country's financial records," T'Challa said. "Things that would cause problems for Wakanda."

"Understood," Damian nodded. "How much is just the arm worth in money?"

"Well, if we just do the entire support and surface structure, about fifteen million dollars," the scientist said. "Roughly."

Damian nodded.

"I'll be fine with just the arm then," Damian said.

"The information is worth more than fifteen million dollars," T'Challa said.

"That's a lot of zeros," Damian said.

"We'll be upgrading the arm," T'Challa said. "I have a few ideas. We'll also make you an extra or two to go with it. it will equal out to about a hundred million."

"A hundred..." Damian stared at him. "I am not worth that much."

"Wakandans always repay their debts," T'Challa said.

"Alright," Damian nodded as the scientists led him over to a bed with a piece of metal reaching up over it on a roller system, attached to the bed.

"Please lie here so we can scan your arm," the scientist said.

Damian lay down and they turned the machine on, a light turning on on the piece of metal and slowly moving up his body.

"So, how long will it take to make the, uh, gifts?" Damian asked.

"Well, the arm should take a little less than three days," the scientist said. "The rest, depending on what we make, will probably take about as long."

Damian nodded and lay still until the scan was complete then stood as the scientists began to examine the results of the scan. Then, T'Challa led him to a room on the top floor where he would stay until his new arm was complete.

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	3. Chapter 3

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Reinforced

Damian walked over to the window, flexing and bending his new Vibranium-Adamantium alloy arm. It was more flexible than his last, nearly as flexible as his natural left arm. In addition to it, they were planning to make him a matching vest, elbow guard, knee guards, shin and foot guards, and glove, all of which should be done within another day. As another added bonus to his arm, there was a concealed blade that extended from his hand, through his fingers if he so desired, as long as his hand was flat with its fingers conjoined in a knife hand. The blade was about a foot and a half long and double-edged. He liked it, though he doubted it would see a lot of use.

"Do you like your new arm?" T'Challa asked.

"Yes your highness," Damian nodded. "It's amazing."

Just then, his phone rang. He picked it up, putting it to his ear.

"Hello?" Damian asked.

"It's Fury," Fury said. "Get to Seoul. Doctor Helen Cho has something that may interest Ultron."

"Ultron?" Damian asked. "Who's Ultron?"

"You can ask Stark when he gets there," Fury said. "Congratulations. You'll be working with the Avengers."

"Really?" Damian asked. "Me? Why? I'm not a super soldier."

"Neither are Agents Barton or Romanov," Fury said. "Now, get to Seoul. You're wasting time."

"On my way," Damian sighed.

"Trouble?" T'Challa asked.

"I have to go to South Korea," Damian said. "I'm going to go meet the Avengers."

"We'll have the rest ready when you return," T'Challa said. "And I'll have a car waiting for you outside."

"Thank you," Damian said, hurrying out of the facility where a car was waiting to take him to the runway.

Once there, Damian got on the jet and the jet took off, turning toward Seoul and flying as fast as it could.

* * *

Damian watched from the window of the jet as the trailer truck sped along the freeway. He could see Captain America skidding along on the destroyed back door, which was still attached by one hinge.

"So how am I getting out?" Damian asked the pilot.

"You're jumping," the pilot said, tossing him a parachute.

"Wouldn't that kill you?" Damian asked.

"The plane will depressurize," the pilot said. "That isn't necessarily a death sentence. If I can find some water to put it down in, theoretically I could survive."

"So, I'll be killing you," Damian said.

"Don't worry about me," the pilot said. "It's not the first time I've crashed a plane. Fury sent me because if we do crash I have the most experience surviving. All I have to do is get to the coast, then I can jump."

Damian nodded, pulling the parachute on.

"Good luck," Damian said.

"You too," the pilot said. "You're fucking crazy for this."

He pulled a lever, the rear door beginning to open. Damian smirked, looking back at him one more time just before the front half of the plane exploded. Instantly, the through draft sent him shooting out of the back of the plane like a cannon ball. After a moment he managed to stop himself tumbling enough to pull his rip cord, the chute opening and slowing his descent. He looked up at the plane, watching what was left fall, crashing down in a parking lot outside a shopping center. He tore his eyes away from the burning wreckage, focussing on the truck, which was headed toward him, since he miraculously happened to end up descending over the freeway.

He steered himself toward the truck, coming down as Captain America and a very tall robot of some kind left the truck thanks to the robot, crashing into the side of a train. Damian looked between the train and the truck before turning, heading for the train. After a couple more seconds, he extended the blade from his arm, cutting his parachute's cords, then landed in a roll on the train, retracting the sword. He stood, looking around and saw he was on the last car. The hole had been four cars ahead of him.

He stood, sprinting along the train, jumping between cars until he reached the fourth one and gripped the side of the train with his metal hand, swinging down into the car and landing opposite the robot from Captain America. The robot turned toward him just in time for Captain America to smash the edge of his shield into the robot's head. The robot spun back toward him, arm pulling back. Before he could throw any punch, Damian hooked his right arm around the inside of the robot's elbow, grabbing its shoulder then spun, swinging the robot backward around himself. Captain America caught on instantly and when Damian released the robot, Captain America met it with a shield smash, sending it blasting backward through the back of the train car.

"Thanks," Captain America said.

"You're welcome," Damian said. "It's an honor to-"

"Watch out!" Captain America warned, Damian throwing himself back against the wall of the train just as five thin laser beams shot past blasting through the front of the train before the robot followed.

"I take it that's Ultron?" Damian asked.

"Yeah," Captain America said before sprinting tot he front, Pietro and his sister Wanda appearing on the train behind him at Pietro's speed.

"The brakes are out," Captain America said.

Suddenly, the tracks ended and the train began to tear down the street.

Captain America swore, turning to the twins starting with Pietro. "The civilians in our path."

Pietro shot out of the train instantly and Captain America turned to Wanda.

"Can you stop this thing?" he asked.

Wanda hesitated a moment before glowing red and holding her hands out, the wheels all suddenly locked up, the train slowly stopping, Pietro flashing along in front of it, moving anyone in its path out of the way. Finally, the train stopped and the three of them left, Wanda walking over to Pietro, who was sitting on a table, breathing hard.

"I'm fine," Pietro said as Wanda reached him. "I need a minute."

"I'm tempted not to give you one," Captain America said, stopping behind Wanda, just ahead of Damian.

"You were right after all," Pietro said, smiling at Damian. "We meet again."

"Wish we could have met in Africa the other day," Damian said. "Might have gone a little differently."

"The cradle," Wanda said, turning to Captain America. "Did you get it?"

"Stark will take care of it," he said.

"No, he won't," Wanda said.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Stark's not crazy," Captain America said.

"He will do anything to make things right," Wanda said.

"Stark com in," Captain America said after a moment. "Stark...Anyone on comms?"

"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it," Wanda said. "Where do you think he gets that?"

"Yeah, I have no idea what this cradle is or why it's bad that Tony Stark has it, but if it has something to do with destroying the world, we should probably get moving," Damian said.

Captain America nodded and they all followed him to a black jet, climbing in and sitting down, strapping themselves in. Then, they took off, flying back toward Stark Tower. As they flew, Captain America turned to Damian.

"So who are you?" Captain America said.

"My name's Damian, Sir," Damian said. "I'm-"

"Don't call me Sir," he said. "Just call me Steve. I hate being called Sir."

"Uh, alright," Damian nodded. "Anyway, I was one of Strucker's guinea pigs. I was training for special forces in S.H.E.I.L.D. when it fell and Hydra took over. I wasn't loyal to Hydra so they locked me up and experimented on me, beat me, cut off my arm and gave me an admittedly decent steel replacement."

"That's not steel," Steve said.

"You're right," Damian nodded. "This one's new. It's the same as your shield. A gift from the Wakandan king as a favor to Fury, though I'm not sure why. The other things I had to pic up were the rest of the gifts."

"Like what?" Steve asked.

"Vest, shin guards, knee and elbow guards, and a glove," Damian said.

"Good idea," Steve nodded. "There's a communicator on the wall. Maybe they'll send it to Stark Tower when they finish it."

"Maybe," Damian said.

He walked over to the communicator and Steve talked him through calling T'Chaka's scientists. After a moment, the lead scientist who had been the one to switch out Damian's arm answered.

"Oh hello Damian," the scientist greeted. "How's the arm working?"

"Wonderful," Damian said. "How's the rest coming along?"

"Should be done within the hour," the scientist said.

"Excellent," Damian said. "How long would it take for you to get it to Stark Tower?"

"I'd give it about two hours depending on the jet," the scientist said. "Why?"

"I need it sent there," Damian said.

"Very well," the scientist nodded. "I'll have it sent as soon as it's ready."

Damian nodded and thanked him then disconnected, sitting down.

"Now that that's taken care of," Damian said. "Would you mind filling me in on the cradle and Ultron, and his plan, and all of that?"

"It'll be easiest with my powers," Wanda said.

"No," Damian said.

"You don't trust me?" Wanda asked.

"You I trust perfectly," Damian said. "It's myself I don't trust. It's safest to just tell me in words."

"Alright," Captain America said. "Let's see, I suppose it begins with the assault in Sokovia a few days ago."

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	4. Chapter 4

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Vision

Everything went down hill so fast. One second Steve was yelling at Tony Stark and Bruce Banner to shut down the cradle, then Pietro had unplugged everything and Steve's shield was bouncing around the room, then everybody was attacking everybody. Finally, Thor crashed through the window and began to electrocute the cradle. When he stopped, for a brief second, it seemed like he had fried whatever was growing inside. Then, the cradle exploded and something red and shiny Vibranium, flew out and perched on the edge of it, a yellow gemstone of some kind glowing in its forehead. Then, it flew at Thor. Thor flipped it over himself, sending it crashing through a window on the upper level they were on and toward a window leading outside only for it to stop itself a foot away, staring at its reflection.

They all moved down to the lower level but Thor held out a hand, telling them to stop. After a moment, the synthetic person, looking to be male, turned away fro the window, a green bodysuit materializing on its body as it floated to the floor in front of them all, Thor setting his hammer down.

"I'm sorry, that was...odd," the thing said, looking to Thor. "Thank you."

Then, it formed a cape on itself as well, apparently liking Thor's.

"Thor, you helped create this?" Steve asked.

"I had a vision," Thor said. "A whirlpool that sucks in all life and at it's center, is that."

He pointed at the glowing gem.

"What, the gem?" Bruce asked.

"The Mind Stone," Thor said. "It is one of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe. Unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."

"Wouldn't that make bringing it to life a bad thing?" Damian asked.

"Stark is right," Thor said.

"Oh, it's definitely the end times," Bruce Banner said.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron," Thor said.

"Not alone," the thing said.

"Why does your vision sound like J.A.R.V.I.S.?" Steve asked.

"Because we configured it with J.A.R.V.I.S.'s matrix," Stark said, stepping forward as the synthetic thing began to walk around, looking at them all. "To create something new."

"I think I've had my fill of new," Steve said.

"You think I am a child of Ultron?" the synthetic asked.

"You're not?" Steve asked.

"I am not Ultron," the synthetic said. "I'm not...J.A.R.V.I.S. either. I am..."

"I looked in your head and saw annihilation," Wanda said.

"Look again," the synthetic invited.

"Yeah, her sole approval is still worth jack to me," Agent Barton snorted.

"There powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron, they all came from the Mind Stone and are nothing compared to what it can unleash," Thor said. "But with it on our side-"

"Is it?" Steve asked. "Are you? On our side?"

"I don't think it's that simple," the synthetic said.

"Well it better get real simple real soon," Bruce said.

"I am on the side of life," the synthetic said. "Ultron isn't. He will end it all."

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked.

"You," the synthetic said.

"Where?" Pietro asked.

"Sokovia," Barton said. "He's got Nat there too."

"If we're wrong about you," Banner said, stepping forward. "If you're the monster that Ultron made you to be..."

"What will you do?" the synthetic asked.

He had a point. His entire body was Vibranium, and he had an apparently ultra-powerful stone in his forehead. They couldn't do anything.

"I don't want to kill Ultron," the synthetic said. "He's unique. And he is in pain. But that pain will roll over the Earth. So he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net. We have to act now. And not one of us, can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me."

He picked up Thor's hammer, everyone in the room staring at him in shock.

"But we need to go," the synthetic said, holding the hammer out to Thor, who took it and looked to not be exactly sure what to think.

"Alright," Thor said after a minute, following the synthetic and patting Tony on the shoulder as he passed. "Well done."

"Isn't that supposed to be unliftable?" Damian asked.

"Uhuh," Barton nodded. "Everyone tried, everyone failed."

"I see," Damian nodded just as a metal box with two parachutes slowing it down landed on the balcony outside. "Oh, perfect timing."

"Three minutes," Steve said. "Get what you need."

Everyone scattered and Damian went out onto the balcony, opening the box and pulling out his new armor and even a knife to go with it, which he hadn't known about. It was nine inches with saw teeth on the back and both edges sharp with the front of the finger guard, the side with the straight edge, bent downward to cover the index finger slightly. He grinned, putting everything on then went inside, looking around until he met the Synthetic on its way out to the jet.

"Oh, uh, hey," Damian greeted.

"Hello," the synthetic said. "You do not seem as, unsettled around me as the others."

"Well right now I'm still trying to adjust to the fact that I'm in Stark Tower and about to go fight alongside the Avengers," Damian said. "Compared to that, for me, you're pretty par for the course."

"I see," the synthetic said. "You are very unusual, I think."

"So, uh, what should we call you?" Damian asked.

"How about, Vision?" the synthetic asked.

"That works," Damian said. "Kinda jealous. Your whole body is Vibranium. The only thing I got was this arm."

Vision looked at him oddly and he ignored the look.

"Everyone ready?" Steve asked, standing beside the jet.

Everyone was assembled and nodded, then they all piled onto the jet and it took off.

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	5. Chapter 5

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

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Final Battle

Damian watched as the army of Ultron's robots began to appear out of the sewers, the road, the air, rivers, anywhere. More than a dozen of them, a few near each member of their team. All around him, the city began to break apart. The city was flying. Or, at least, it was starting to. Not the whole thing, either. Only about half. Which meant that buildings on the edge of the chunk that was rising were falling onto buildings around the new crater. This was Ultron's plan. He meant to drop the city onto the planet as a meteor.

"Good plan," Damian breathed before sprinting at a group of nearby robots.

They had energy blasters like Hydra's soldiers had used for their arms, but when they fired at Damian, he managed to avoid most of the shots, using his right arm to shield his head. Then, when he reached the three about three seconds after beginning to run, he punched through one's head, then ripped the second's arm off and shoved it through the third's chest. Then, he extended his arm's blade and slashed the second. He stopped, grinning then looked around, finding himself surrounded by a dozen more, all aiming at him.

"God I wish I had a decent ranged weapon," Damian sighed.

Suddenly, all twelve glowed red and were ripped apart and Damian grinned.

"Thank God!" Damian sighed, turning to Wanda and waving. "Thank you Wanda!"

She smiled and nodded just as a robot shot around a building a few yards behind her. Before it could reach her, he drew his pistol, shooting it in the shoulder. the bullet bounced off of its armor plating harmlessly but Wanda instinctively ducked and the robot's shot hit Damian's new vest instead, bouncing off. Then, an arrow drilled itself through the robots head, dropping it.

"Your pistol's not very helpful," Barton called from down the street.

"Got her out of the way!" Damian shouted back, then spun, punching a robot as it was flying past, smashing it.

Pietro slowed to a stop beside him, a trail of destroyed robots behind him.

"You're more durable than a human aren't you?" Damian asked.

"Yeah," Pietro nodded. "Otherwise punching at my speed would be very unpleasant."

"No joke," Damian nodded. "Don't suppose you know where I can get armor piercing rounds for a P99 do you?"

"Let me just order it online," Pietro said.

Damian snorted and Pietro sped off to destroy more robots. Damian did the same, running through the streets away from Wanda and Barton, toward the bridge where Thor, Natasha, and Steve were fighting.

"Where are they thickest?" Damian asked.

"Definitely here," Steve said.

"On my way," Damian said.

"Be careful," Steve said.

After another moment, Damian stepped out into the large open area where they were fighting and stopped. There were a lot. Upwards of fifty. He groaned then drew his pistol, shooting one in the back of the head. It dropped instantly. He tilted his head then grinned, opening fire and dropping an Ultron ever couple shots. After a minute, one of the robots landed beside him, smashing the gun away before Damian drove his arm's blade up through its torso into its head. He retracted the blade and grabbed the body, spinning and smashing it into another of the robots before continuing to spin and hurling what was left into an airborne one, both being smashed to pieces. He turned, extending the blade and slashing the barrel of an energy rifle then held his arm in front of his face as the gun exploded, blasting a handful of robots and hurling Damian. Damian crashed down on a car and rolled off of it, groaning.

"We're clear here," Barton said.

"We are not clear," Steve said. "Very not clear!"

Damian pushed himself up, retracting the blade then held his arm up, clotheslining a robot as it flew past. Then, he grabbed a sign post, ripping it free of the ground and smashing it into a robot's face, smashing the robot before hurling the sign post like a javelin, skewering three and knocking them backward into the path of a flying fourth, the fourth smashing into them, breaking all four. He turned instinctively catching a fist with his left hand, smirking when it didn't hurt much.

"I love this glove," he grinned before punching the robot's shoulder, breaking its arm off then roundhouse kicking it, smashing it.

He spun, smashing the arm into another robot, breaking the arm but not the robot since his left arm was only as strong as a normal human. However, before he could finish the robot, Pietro sped past, slamming the robot into another, both blasting into a car and falling apart. Damian spun, seeing the others cleaning up the rest of the robots with ease and he began to help civilians into the nearby buildings that were still stable, the others doing the same.

"What've you got Tony?" Steve asked.

"Oh nothing good," Tony said. "Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."

"I asked for a solution not an escape plan," Steve said.

"Impact radius is getting bigger every second," Tony said. "Gonna have to make a choice."

Steve ran out of the building to find more civilians and Damian sat on a desk staring at his arm, replaying watching the others tearing the robots apart in his head. All of them, even Natasha and Barton, were easily double as skilled and deadly as him, despite his new arm. Compared to them, he was unnecessary.

"What is it?" Wanda asked, walking over to sit beside him, slipping her hand into his real one.

"You guys are all so amazing," Damian said. "All I have is a fancy arm. I'm not even able to fight as well as Romanoff."

"Well, she's been trained since she was about five," Wanda said. "And don't say Barton either. He's been trained almost as extensively. You're a massive help. You're tearing them apart as well, literally."

"Because I have a mechanical arm," Daniel said. "If it wasn't for this, I'd be completely useless. You and Pietro are lucky. You have powers that you can use to do incredible things. I just got really fucked up by that piece of shit."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Wanda said.

Damian sighed, looking sideways out the window just as a massive aircraft carrier with four massive propellors on the corners rose out of the clouds beside them.

"No way," Damian breathed. "He's still got one of those?"

"What is that?" Wanda asked.

"It's an evacuation transport," Damian grinned as several small shuttles flew from the massive aircraft to the rising chunk of city for the civilians.

"Let's load 'em up," Steve said over the communicators.

"Everyone outside!" Damian called out. We just got you a ride out of here!"

Everyone cheered, streaming outside. Damian went with them, but quickly lost Wanda in the flood of civilians. He managed to get out of the tide of people and looked around as robots began to try to attack the aircraft. Before they could, Tony and War Machine, Damian believed he went by Rhodey, both arrived tearing into them After a moment, however, Thor delivered some bad news.

"We're out of time," Thor said. "They're coming for the core."

"Rhodey, get the rest of the people onboard that ship," Tony said. "Avengers, time to work for a living."

Damian turned, sprinting toward the church where he could see a hundred or more robots converging. He sprinted into the church where the core was located, breathing hard, to find the others already present and Ultron hovering in front of his massive army.

"This is the best I can do," Ultron said. "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Like the old man said," Tony said, glancing at Steve. "Together."

Then, Hulk roared and the robots charged. Damian swallowed hard, readying himself as the others did the same. Then, it was chaos. robots were streaming in from every direction, and everyone was moving as fast as they could, demolishing any they could reach. If all that needed to happen was that Ultron touch the core, they had to make sure he didn't get close enough. That was a lot easier said than done. Pieces of metal and sparks flew in every direction. Damian blocked a punch, sweeping it into a different robot before destroying both. He kicked one into several pieces, breaking another with them then caught one's hand and spun, hurling him into three others. He slashed two out of the air and Wanda used their parts as projectiles. He drew his knife in his free hand and extended his mechanical arm's blade, then tore into everything he could reach. He spun and slashed, stabbed, smashed, kicked, and then used the blades to fling one. He actually began to impress himself, even though the robots weren't actually fighting, just trying to get past.

Then, a fist connected with his jaw. He staggered backward, dropping his knife and hitting the core, groaning and dropping to his knees, vision swimming. Metal fists packed a massive punch. He saw a red glow in front of him and looked up, seeing a psychic wall shielding him from several robots, Wanda fighting with one hand while defending himself. He stood, shaking his head, then nodded and she dropped the wall. At the same time, an arrow whizzed over his shoulder, hitting a robot and exploding, clearing the group waiting to get through and allowing Damian to grab his knife, retracting his arm's blade. Then, he tore into the robots again. Then, Ultron himself was there, fighting Vision.

For a half second, he had the element of surprise. Then, Vision fired an energy beam out of his forehead and blasted Ultron out of the building, holding the beam on him. A moment later, Thor added a constant stream of lightning, then Tony added his own energy beams. Finally, the flood of robots had stopped. Damian watched as pieces of Ultron began to fly off. Then, all three let off, allowing Ultron to stand.

"You know, with the benefit of hindsight-" and then he was cut off by Banner's massive green fist.

A group of robots that had been standing nearby and aiming at Banner turned, beginning to run, Banner chasing them. They took off into the air.

"They'll try to leave the city," Thor said.

"We can't let 'em, not even one," Tony said. "Rhodey!"

"I'm on it," Rhodey responded, beginning to open fire on the escaping robots.

Then, Vision was there, tearing into them as well. Steve turned to the others.

"We've gotta clear out," Steve said. "I can tell the air's getting thin. Get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers."

"What about the core?" Barton asked.

"I'll protect it," Wanda said, getting an unsure look from Barton. "It's my job."

"Are you sure about this?" Damian asked.

"I can do it," Wanda said.

Damian nodded and turned, leaving to sweep for any stragglers with the others. He hurried along, searching the ground floors of any buildings he could from outside and shouting into those he couldn't. Finally, he reached a large open area, panting. Thin air made it hard to run.

"Thor, I'm going to need you back on the core," Tony said. "You know, if this works, we maybe don't walk away."

"Maybe," Thor agreed.

Just then, the sound of a machine gun reached Damian's ears, making him stop just as Banner roared. Then, it started again. He turned to look. It was their jet. Ultron had stolen it. The shot ripped through the ground past Steve and Thor, killed a civilian running toward the shuttles, then shot along in a trail heading for Barton and a small boy he had saved. It was moving fast. Too fast. Barton couldn't react. Time seemed to slow. He could see the blue blur off to the side. Pietro. Pietro saw what was going to happen. he was moving to intervene. Which meant he'd be in the path of the bullets. Damian couldn't get there to use his Vibranium armor to shield them. There was no other way. Barton turned so that the shots would hit him first. It was instinctive, but pointless. Then, Pietro was in the way, and Barton was off to the side with the child. Then, it was over. The machine gun stopped. Everything seemed silent. Everyone stared. Barton looked around, then at Pietro, and then he was staring. Pietro was staring. Damian sighed. He had done it. For the first time, he had used his abilities of his own free will, mostly. When he wanted to, at least. His hand was extended, a light blue aura around it, and the bullets that should have hit Pietro, eight of them, were hovering an inch from his body, the same aura around them. Pietro stepped out of the way and Damian lowered his hand, the aura fading and the bullets falling to the ground. Damian followed, falling to his hands and knees, panting.

"How..." Pietro stared at him before a grin spread over his face.

"Go help Wanda, now!" Damian said. "And don't say anything about this."

Pietro nodded, speeding off and Steve ran over, helping Damian to his feet.

"Good work," he said before hurrying off to help Barton and the child up.

Barton set the child down and the child sprinted for the shuttle, Barton following with the others. Damian stayed. He turned, running back toward the core just in time to see Ultron crash down into a train car off to one side. As he ran toward it, Wanda got there first. He stepped into the car just as Ultron's power source, the equivalent of his heart, burst out of his chest and into Wanda's hand.

"Guess you didn't need my help after all," Damian said.

Wanda turned to him and smiled.

"Pietro said you saved his life," Wanda said, walking over, dropping the chunk of metal.

"Did he?" Damian asked.

"He said you used your Vibranium armor, but you didn't want me to know because it was stupid," Wanda said.

"He's not wrong," Damian said.

"Thank you," Wanda said, kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you for saving my brother."

"You're welcome," Damian said.

Then, Pietro appeared in the doorway.

"Hope I'm not interrupting, but it's time to leave," Pietro said. "Tony and Thor are ready."

"Take Wanda," Damian said and Pietro nodded, picking his sister up and shooting off toward the shuttles.

Damian followed as best he could but after a moment, Vision arrived, picking him up by the mechanical arm.

"Thanks," Damian said.

"You're welcome," Vision said. "Tony, we're clear."

"Pietro?" Damian asked.

"On the shuttle," Pietro said. "It's taking off now."

Good," Tony said. "On my mark Thor."

Damian looked around as the last of the shuttles got away from the homemade meteor, flying toward the aircraft, which had also pulled away from the meteor.

"Now!" Tony said.

A bolt of lightning struck the core in time with Thor's hammer, and instantly, the entirety of the island exploded apart, massive pieces of stone and metal crashing down in the water below. Damian sighed as Vision set him on the aircraft then flew off again.

"Is it over?" Damian asked.

"Vision's heading off to finish the last one now," Tony said. "It's over."

"Good," Damian said. "I'm going to pass out now."

"Don't sleep through the party," Tony said.

Damian sat down on the nearest shuttle, groaning. He blinked for what he thought was a moment and when he opened his eyes again, Pietro was asleep on the bend across from him and Wanda was beside him, head resting on his shoulder and her hands holding his left, his Vibranium glove in his cargo pocket. He smiled, closing his head again and passing back out.

* * *

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	6. Chapter 6

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Auditions

Damian stared out the window at the world. He had tried to use his psychic abilities again and had successfully activated them, but instead of lifting the water bottle he was practicing it on, he had crushed it into a ball, making a mess of the floor. He had next to no control over them. He still hadn't told Wanda that he had them. She could probably help train him but the last time he had used them around someone other than saving Pietro, the person had been in the hospital for nine months while the bones in their legs healed. Then in a wheelchair after that indefinitely.

"You seem pretty deep in thought," Wanda said. "Anything life-changing?"

"More than you'd think," Damian snorted. "I doubt they'll accept me, even with my arm."

"The only reason Tony Stark is an Avenger is his suit," Wanda said.

"Yes but his suit can fire lasers and fly," Damian said. "My arm is just really hard."

Wanda sighed, shaking her head, then lifting his mechanical hand in hers.

"You're going to do fine," Wanda said. "You fought alongside them against Ultron. You're practically already an Avenger."

"You are already an Avenger," Damian said. "I'm just another ex S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

"You're more than that," Wanda assured him. "And this lack of self esteem is just a waste of energy."

"There's nothing special about me," Damian said.

"Damian," Wanda said. "You're going to do just fine."

"Yeah man, don't sweat it," Pietro said. "If all else fails you can just stop a bullet for me again."

"That's not funny," Damian said.

"If I may," Vision said. "Perhaps it would be best if I spoke with him alone."

Pietro nodded, speeding off to the other side of the room and Wanda walked away after him. Once they were out of ear-shot, Vision turned to Damian.

"Why do you not use your other abilities?" Vision asked.

"I can't control them," Damian said. "Catching the bullets for Pietro was more instinct than anything. I tried to lift a bottle of water and crushed it. I've tried to blast an apple before and put a guy behind me in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, assuming he's still alive."

"I see," Vision said. "Perhaps you should tell Miss Maximoff. She has the same abilities. Perhaps she could teach you to control yours."

"It's too dangerous," Damian said. "I'd probably severely hurt her before I could start learning to control them."

"I believe you are not giving her enough credit," Vision said. "She is stronger than you realize."

"Avengers," Steve called out, stepping into the room, making Damian turn, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "Assemble."

"Avengers?" Damian blinked. "What, no auditions?"

"Why would you need to audition?" Natasha asked. "You fought against Ultron with us."

"I told you," Wanda smiled.

Damian smiled and they all walked over before Steve and Natasha stepped forward.

"Alright," Steve said. "This training session is to get you fighting as a team."

"Does that mean I can't just run around and beat everyone up anymore?" Pietro asked.

"That's not what we mean," Steve said. "You need to work together. So, you're going to be taking me and Romanoff down."

Damian glanced at Vision.

"Um, all of us?" Damian asked. "All at once?"

He pointed to the Synthetic and Steve stared at him for a moment.

"Excellent point," Steve nodded. "The two of you come and fight me at the same time."

He walked a short distance away and Vision shrugged, he and Damian following, the others turning to watch. Then, Damian and Vision charged. Vision reached Steve first, throwing a punch. Steve deflected it with his shield then swung the shield at Vision, who phased through Steve. Damian threw a punch and Steve kicked his forearm, redirecting the punch into Vision's jaw.

"Sorry," Damian winced.

"Don't worry about it," Vision said, turning and punching at Steve.

Steve ducked under it, his own fist hitting Vision before his shield blocked Damian's fist. Then, he grabbed Damian, throwing him before he knocked another punch to the side and slammed his shield into Vision's stomach. Vision backed off before Damian grabbed Steve's arm, spinning and hurling him at Vision. Vision caught him and held the other hand up. Just as he did, Steve's shield flashed up, forcing Vision to phase through him, allowing Steve to fall. Then, Steve used his shield to redirect another of Damian's punches, this one into Vision's stomach.

"Sorry," Damian said again.

"Don't do it again," Vision said.

Damian spun, punching at Steve only for Steve to shoulder throw him. Then, When Vision punched downward at Steve, Steve spun out of the way. Damian shouted int surprise and fear, blocking it with his right arm, and Vision backed away.

"Sorry," Vision said.

"Easier than you thought isn't it?" Damian asked, rubbing his head where Vision's fist had smacked him with his own arm.

"A little," Vision said.

"We're not doing well are we?" Damian asked.

"No," Vision said.

"You could beat him alone quickly, right?" Damiana asked.

"Yes," Vision nodded.

"Well, I guess we know which side is holding which back," Damian said.

"Indeed," Vision said.

Damian looked at him then sighed and shook his head, smiling.

"All yours," Damian said.

Vision flew forward, Steve swinging at him, Vision allowing the shield to pass through him before catching it and Steve's throat, lifting him into the air.

"And then I crush your throat," Vision said. "Fight over."

Steve nodded and Vision set him down and landed in front of him.

"You fight well individually, both of you," Steve said. "But the point of training as a team is so that you don't have to. And it's not one side holding the other back. You are both poor at teamwork."

"Let Damian try with Wanda," Natasha said. "I have a feeling they'll do well."

Steve nodded and Wanda walked forward as Vision flew back toward the others. Wanda stopped when he neared him.

"That was rude," Wanda said. "You can't go around telling people that they're weak. It's hurtful."

"I was only trying to be honest," Vision said.

"There are times when you shouldn't be," Wanda said.

Then, she walked past him, stopping beside Damian. Steve nodded and charged forward and Wanda sent a telekinetic blast at him. He leapt over it, hurling his shield and Damian caught it, tossing it aside before Steve lit up red and shot toward him. Then, Damian caught him by the throat, careful not to crush it, and slammed him into the ground, extending his arm's blade and setting it on the floor beside his head.

"Much better," Steve said. "Natasha was right. You two are an excellent team. Which means you'll be working with Vision more than her."

"I figured," Damian said, retracting the blade and helping Steve up. "Alright. Now what?"

"Now, we test your teamwork with the rest of them," Steve said, picking up his shield.

Damian nodded as Pietro walked over. At the same time, Vision and Wanda moved to have Natasha test them.

* * *

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	7. Chapter 7

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Training

"Vision," Damian said, stepping into the room where Vision had been spending most of his time. "Do you mind if we talked for a moment?"

"Not at all," Vision said.

"You're the most physically durable member of the team," Damian said. "Using my physical abilities, I couldn't break you if my life depended on it. So...would you mind helping me train my other abilities? I need to learn to use them."

Vision nodded and the two of them walked outside.

* * *

Damian carefully set Vision onto the chair and sighed, walking to the window and folding his left arm across his chest and resting his face in his right hand.

"What happened to you?" Steve asked, looking at the cast on Vision's left leg.

Vision looked to Damian who swallowed.

"I, uh, got in a lucky shot during a sparring match," Damian said.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," Steve said, walking out of the room.

"So, control harder than you thought?" Pietro asked, being the only other person in the room.

"I turned my power on and broke Vision's leg," Damian said.

"Try me," Pietro said.

"No," Damian said. "I'm not trying on you."

"Come on," Pietro said. "I can handle it."

"No, you can't," Damian said.

"Sure I can," Pietro said.

"Pietro, I broke Vision's leg!" Damian said. "Vision! The guy made out of Vibranium. The guy whose body only gets harder the more you hit it! Trust me, you physically cannot handle it."

"I'm fast, I'll just dodge it," Pietro said.

"Pietro," Vision spoke up. "I saw what he did. You would not be able to dodge it, not matter how fast you are."

"I'll just train alone," Damian sighed. "Maybe that'll help."

"Or, you could train with my sister," Pietro said.

"Pietro," Damian said. "I just broke a leg made of Vibranium in a single blast. If I hit you or your sister with it, you're not going to have enough of a leg left to break."

"Fair enough," Pietro said. "You might want to learn to do it somewhere a bit further from the facility then."

"I will be," Damian said. "I'm going to go and learn to use it in the middle of a desert somewhere."

"What if we need you?"

"You'll find me," Damian said.

With that, he turned, walking out of the room.

* * *

Damian stepped out of the jet and it took off again, the autopilot returning it to the facility. Damian sighed, turning back to the desert before him, staring at the few boulders and rocks scattered about, a small dried bit of long-dead plant every so often, and rolling sand dunes everywhere. Every bit the stereotypical desert. Damian sighed. If this was home, he needed to find shelter, or make some. He sighed. Might as well get started.

He raised his hand, taking a breath before reaching out with his telekinesis. Instantly, the blue-tinted energy around him spikes and thrashed around, a loud roar filling his head as it did. Then, an explosion went off behind him. He turned. The jet. Even from that distance, he had just brought down the jet. Well, there was his shelter.

* * *

Damian stepped out of the wreckage and stretched, looking around. He really needed a shower. But it hadn't rained in days. What little he had left he needed to stay hydrated.

"Alright," Damian sighed. "Day one hundred ninety six. Here goes nothing."

He held his right hand out, activating his power. Sand exploded up around him, burying him to his waist. He groaned, digging himself out. He held out his left hand. It wasn't that he had never tried with his left hand, he just knew what difference it made. Sand exploded up directly below him, hurling him into the air before he fell, landing on top of his shelter, blessedly not falling far. Using his left hand, made none. But it was always worth a shot. The most he could lose was his life and as of the moment there wasn't much there to lose. He slid to the ground, beginning to practice his martial arts. He had been away for a while with no one to train against. He was starting to get sloppy and he knew it. The jet was starting to run out of the food Colonel Fury had airdropped to him too. Finally, he sat down, hands out and grit his teeth. Then, sand crashed into his face.

* * *

Day two hundred seventy. No more being buries up to his waist anymore. Instead, now he just got thrown around. He'd try to lift a stone and he'd spontaneously find himself ten feet in the air and flying a hundred feet back. Food was starting to get scarce. Fury had missed the last two deliveries. If Damian couldn't learn to control himself soon, Fury wouldn't need to worry about delivering food at all, much less late. Damian held his hand out. Then, he landed on his back. He sat up, groaning.

"Two hundred seventy days, and nothing," Damian sighed. "I'm no closer to controlling it than when I started. What the hell am I doing wrong?"

"Maybe it's not you," Tony said. "Maybe your power is simply too strong to control. Maybe you're an atom bomb."

"You're not helping Stark," Damian growled. "And why are you here anyway? Isn't it usually Fury or Vision that complain that my power's too strong to control?"

"They're both busy," Tony said.

"Doing what?" Damian scoffed. "They're my hallucinations."

"Well, Vision is on a date with Wanda-"

"Yeah right," Damian snorted. "He's a robot."

"Well you're certainly not on a date with her," Tony said. "You blew that chance. I'm sure someone's tending the crop or you."

"Really?" Damian asked. "Tending the crop?"

"Plowing the fields?" Tony offered. "Kneading the dough? Stuffing the sandwich? Filling the-"

"Alright enough!" Damian shouted. "Jesus! You know, for my hallucination you're an awful asshole. And perverted."

"Just a reflection of part of your personality," Tony said, cutting a wedge out of an apple and putting it in his mouth.

"I'm hungry aren't I?" Damian asked.

"Probably," Tony nodded.

"Where's Fury anyway?" Damian asked. "You said he was busy too."

"Oh he's having a tea party inside," Tony said.

"He's what?" Damian asked. "This I've gotta see."

He walked inside and saw Fury sitting at a tiny pink table, in a tiny pink chair, sipping imaginary tea from a small plastic cup and giggling at a joke his friend the teddy bear had made.

"Oh good," Damian said. "Even my hallucinations are going crazy. That's a good sign."

"It's just your mind finally cooking," Tony said. "Nothing to worry about."

"Oh no, nothing at all," Damian said walking back outside and holding his hand up, flying backward into the ship in response.

"Maybe you should try focusing your thoughts," Tony suggested, looking down at Damian.

"Oh you make it so easy," Damian said.

"The fact that I'm here means you're failing," Tony said.

Damian rolled his eyes, standing and walking back outside, facing a boulder and raising his hand. Before he could activate his powers, a pair of arms wearing a bright red jacket wrapped around his torso and other arm.

"God you're going to distract me," Damian said.

"She's not letting go until you give her a kiss brow," Pietro said, leaning on the rock.

"Great," Damian said. "Better company than Tony."

"Just wait until Tony gets bored," Pietro said. "That man is all kinds of fucked up. You're going to start hearing this all night."

He began to clap in an extremely suggestive rhythm and Damian activated his powers just so that being thrown would get rid of him. A moment later, he was staring up at Pietro.

"What's that look for?" Pietro asked. "I'm a part of your head."

Damian groaned, rolling over and standing, looking at the boulder again, holding his hand out.

"I'll give you a tip," Pietro said. "Your head used to get real clear real easy. Remember the experiments? You always said you wiped your mind for that."

"Our mind," Damian said.

"Don't lump me together with you," Pietro said. "There's some pretty fucked up shit in there my friend."

"I've been living in a desert for almost a year," Damian said then shook his head. "No communication. Just invites distraction. Clear your mind. Clear your mind. How the hell did I used to do that?"

"You thought about me," Wanda said, wrapping her arms around him again. "About that split second where you passed me and Pietro after getting beat the first time. Remember?"

"Oh yeah," Damian said. "I couldn't even feel the guards hands on my shoulders as they dragged me, but I felt my hand brush you. Must have hit the one nerve in my hand still firing."

"Something like that," Wanda said. "Ready, go."

Damian closed his eyes, forcing all thought out of it, then opened his eyes again, activating his powers. A moment later, his feet were above him and he was flying through the air.

"Yeah that's effective," Damian huffed before crashing down on his back again.

"You hear that?" Pietro asked. "I hear a chopper."

"Chopper?" Damian asked, climbing up onto the top of the jet.

In the distance, there was a helicopter. It was slowly growing closer to him. He smiled. Food. Finally. Just then, the guns lit up and bullets began to slam down around him. He dove off of the top of the ship as the bullets tore past. Then, the helicopter began to swing around, the minigun in the side beginning to fire. The bullets tore along the ground toward him and he dove to the side again, the bullets shooting past. He turned to watch for them swinging around again only to see Wanda trip as the bullets sped toward her. Damian's arm snapped outward, telekinesis activating, and then snapped sideways, a boulder sailing through the air at the helicopter. Except, the boulder passed through it harmlessly before the helicopter faded.

"See, told you you could do it," Pietro said, leaning on his shoulder. "Instinct. Catching the bullets for me, throwing the boulder, even the first time you used them."

"Don't talk about that," Damian said.

"What, you don't want Wanda to hear?" Pietro snorted. "She's a part of you too buddy. Speaking of, why haven't you and her-"

"Yup," Damian said, activating his powers and launching himself backward.

He landed on his back then stood, holding his arm out toward a boulder. Then, he tried focussing on his desire to protect those around him. The boulder rose into the air. His desire to keep Wanda safe. He began to manipulate the boulder, rolling it over, moving it around, smashing it into the ground repeatedly. Wanda. He crashed down on his back, groaning. Maybe it wasn't so easy as he thought.

* * *

Day three hundred. He was out of food. He was out of water. The communicator didn't work. He was ready to go home, and he couldn't. Damian groaned. He was going to have to get home the hard way. By walking until he found the edge of the desert and getting a phone. He stood, looking around.

"I'd go that way," Pietro said, pointing. "That way's south. It's closest."

"How could we possibly know that?" Damian asked.

"Because I'm a genius," Pietro snorted. "Come on, I'll race ya."

And with that, he sped off. Damian rolled his eyes and began to walk after him, for lack of a better idea. Minutes hurt. After about fifteen, his legs were sore and his feet felt like he was walking on glass. it had been a while since he had done any real physical training. Walking over sand dunes hurt. Minutes hurt. Minutes turned into hours. Hours, turned into a day. A day turned into two. Finally, his legs gave out. He tumbled down a sand dune and landed on his stomach, groaning. So tired. So much pain.

"Well don't lie around all day," a British voice above him said. "Get up ol' chap."

He opened his eyes, staring up at the Hulk.

"Please tell me that wasn't you," Damian said.

"I can do Australian if you would prefer," the Hulk said, still British.

"Joy," Damian groaned, standing. "A British Hulk. Just what I need."

He began to walk again, Hulk following him and talking non stop, using several accents including British, Australian, German, Russian, American, Mexican, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Damian couldn't even block it out. It's hard to block out your own hallucination. Finally, the Hulk disappeared before Damian's legs gave out and his body stopped responding. He felt his head going numb as his vision began to darken. He was out of energy. He hadn't eaten or drank in two days of being in the desert. What did that make it? Day three hundred two? Not a bad try. Probably a record for living alone in a desert. Shame no one would ever know about it.

* * *

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	8. Chapter 8

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Long Time No See

Damian opened his eyes and groaned. He was in a small room. The furniture looked old and worn, the walls were cracked badly, and there was dust on everything. After a moment, a man walked in wearing a white button up shirt and brown slacks.

"Oh, you are awake," the man said. "Good. Do you remember what happened?"

"I was walking out of the desert and I collapsed," Damian said.

"That's right," the man nodded. "I found you just outside of our village."

"Where am I?" Damian asked.

"You wouldn't have heard the name," the man said. "We're a small village in the middle of the desert."

"I don't suppose you have any phones?" Damian asked. "I need to make a call."

"I'm sorry, but there's no way to make a call from this village," the man said. "We cannot get any telephone lines to stay standing through a sand storm, and the dust blowing around all the time blocks any cellular reception. To make a call you would have to go to the city."

"What city?" Damian asked.

"Lagos," the man said. "It's about three miles to the east. I can drive you there if you would like."

"Yes please," Damian nodded.

The nodded and motioned for Damian to follow. Damian did as instructed and followed the man out to an old beat-up pickup truck, climbing in without a word. A moment later, the man was driving along the road toward Lagos.

"Thank you, for saving me," Damian said. "I forgot to say it earlier."

"You are very welcome," the man said. "Do you know how long you were in the desert?"

"Too long," Damian said.

The man nodded and the next few minutes were quiet as they entered the city and drove through it. Finally, the man pulled to a stop.

"There's a bar just down the road that way," the man said. "They should have a phone you can use."

Damian nodded and climbed out, thanking the man before he turned his truck around and went back home. Damian began to walk down the street but before he got far, the sound of a crash echoed from off to his left, followed quickly by the sound of gunfire. He turned hurrying that way, breathing hard quickly. He really wished he'd gone for runs while he was in the desert. After several minutes, he stopped as he saw Natasha sprinting through a crowd toward him, chasing a dark man with a satchel.

"Well whataya know," Damian said, holding his right arm out and clotheslining the man, knocking him flat on his back, unconscious. "Hello Romanoff."

"Damian," Natasha said. "Long time no see."

"Wish I could say the same," Damian said. "Which way's Cap? If I remember right, he always gets into the most trouble."

"That way," Natasha said pointing.

Damian nodded and turned, running down the street as quickly as he could. He stepped into the courtyard just in time to see the man Steve had been fighting begin to explode only for Wanda to catch the explosion, keeping it contained to his chest, the man shouting in pain as he began to lift off the ground, rising into the air to make it safe to let him explode.

"She's going to lose it!" Bruce Banner said, suddenly standing beside Damian.

Just as he appeared, Wanda sent the man hurtling upward. Damian's arm snapped up just as the explosion slipped out of the control. Had he not been there, it would have destroyed several floors of the building beside the man. Instead, Damian's power shielded the building, the explosion wrapping around it then ending, instead. Everyone stared in shock as Damian walked over to her and Steve.

"That would have been bad," Damian said, both turning to him. "Who was he anyway?"

"He went by Crossbones," Steve said. "Good to see you again. It's been a long time."

"Once again, I wish I could say the same," Damian said. "It is great to see you though."

"Now they're confused," Bruce said.

"Where've you been?" Wanda asked.

"I was in the desert," Damian said. "Doing some training."

"For a year?" Wanda asked.

"Close to it, yeah," Damian nodded. "I figured it'd take longer, to be honest."

"When...when did you get powers?" Wanda asked.

"Around the same time you did," Damian said. "That's how I actually saved your brother. But that was a fluke. I came out here to train to control it. Because before, any time I used it I would break something, or hurt myself. Thankfully I have control over it now."

Wanda stepped forward, hugging him, and he hugged her back. As he did, Bruce sat down at a table, beginning to play solitaire with the Hulk, who was suddenly sitting across from him.

"By the way," Damian said, stepping back, "I might act a little, odd when we get back. I've been hallucinating for a while."

"What do you see?" Steve asked.

"Banner and the Hulk are playing solitaire," Damian said.

"Oh," Steve said just as Natasha and a black man with metal wings arrived, the man's wings retracting into a pack on his back. "Damian, I don't think you've met Sam. He's a new member of the team."

"Falcon," Sam introduced himself, holding his hand out.

"Damian," Damian said. "No fancy superhero name."

"What about Lefty?" Tony asked, leaning on his shoulder and chewing loudly on a candy bar, Damian's eyebrow twitching in an effort to ignore him.

"You alright?" Wanda asked.

"Great," Damian said. "Haven't eaten in a few days though."

"Well we'd better get going then," Steve said. "Come on. We're parked this way."

He turned walking away, and the others all followed, including Damian's three hallucinations. As they walked, Wanda slipped her hand into his left one and he smiled over at her before she leaned on his shoulder. Then, they all got onto the jet and took off, leaving the small country behind.

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	9. Chapter 9

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Ultimatum

Damian grunted as another needle pierced his arm. He grit his teeth as the burning fluid that Stark claimed would return him to his physical condition prior to going to the desert entered his muscles. Then, Doctor Cho pulled the needle out. Wanda squeezed his hand lightly and he smiled at her.

"What is this shit again?" Damian asked.

"It's a small dose of the original Super Soldier Serum," Tony said. "It's the same stuff as Cap got, except less. This same process was last used, by order of then Lieutenant General Ross, now the Secretary of State, in order to battle a certain person with breathtaking anger management issues."

"So it's supposed to make me as strong as the Hulk?" Damian asked.

"Not at all," Tony said. "Technically you'll be a little closer to Cap. Except, you know, not as good looking."

"Gee thanks," Damian snorted.

"Alright, we're done with the deep muscle injections," Doctor Cho said.

"What's next?" Damian asked.

"Bone," Doctor Cho said. "This part's gonna hurt."

"Joy," Damian groaned. "I don't suppose I'm allowed any anesthetics?"

"Nope," Tony said.

"I could help," Wanda said. "I could block your mind from feeling the pain."

"And in place of that you would, do what, relieve my memories with me?" Damian asked.

"Yes," Wanda nodded.

"No," Damian said. "You're not seeing my memories."

"How bad a person could you have been?" Wanda asked.

"It's not about me being a bad person," Damian said. "It's about my powers. I have to take medicine while I'm not in the middle of a desert to keep myself from dreaming. My nightmares are...very unpleasant for me. And then my powers make it unpleasant for everyone else."

"Ready to begin?" Doctor Cho asked.

"Do it," Damian said.

Tony nodded and Damian squeezed his eyes shut just before the needle reached his skin.

* * *

Damian groaned, lying down on the couch and turning the TV on. The news was reporting on their actions in Lagos. It was blaming Wanda for nearly blowing up a building in the same breath as praising Damian for saving it. Finally he turned it off, looking over as Wanda, who had been watching from the doorway, walked over.

"How are you?" Wanda asked.

"Well, my entire body feels like it's on fire," Damian said. "But I haven't seen any hallucinations for a while, so that might be a good sign. And Tony promises I'm not going to end up like the last guy on account of him fixing the procedure somehow."

"The last guy?" Wanda asked.

"Apparently the last guy they gave it to turned into some mutant monster kind of like the Hulk only evil and with bone spikes everywhere," Damian said. "Fun as it might be to be that strong, I'd rather not be a monster. Tony promises he fixed it though, so I'm fine. I should be back to normal by tomorrow too."

"Good," Wanda smiled. "You know, you missed a lot here."

"I figured," Damian nodded. "Don't pay attention to the news. You did the best you could and no one was hurt."

"Only because you were there," Wanda said. "If not for you I would have killed people."

"It's not your fault," Damian said, holding her hand. "You did everything you could."

"And everything I could wasn't enough," Wanda said. "How did you stop it?"

"All I did was make a barrier," Damian said. "You do that all the time."

"How did you know it needed it?" Wanda asked.

"I didn't," Damian said. "I made it as a failsafe."

"Good thing," Wanda said, then sighed, sitting down.

Just as she did, Vision phased through the wall.

"Hello Vision," Damian said. "Why'd you come through the wall instead of the door?"

"I believed it would be easier," Vision said. "Tony has returned. And he brought the Secretary of State with him."

"Oh boy," Damian said. "Alright. Thank you."

Vision nodded and sank back into the wall. Then, Wanda helped Damian up and they walked out of the room, then down the hall to the briefing room where the others were sitting around a table listening to Ross talk about golf.

"I didn't expect you to be up and about yet," Tony said.

"I barely am," Damian said, wincing as he sat down.

"Are you alright?" Ross asked. "You look like shit."

"I was in a desert for a year," Damian said, brushing his messy brown hair out of his face, the hair reaching his shoulder. "And I still need a haircut."

"I see," Ross nodded. "Anyway, as I was saying, when I had my heart attack, I found something I was missing most of my life. Perspective. The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives. And while, a great many people see you as heroes, there are some...who would prefer the term vigilantes."

"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asked.

"How about dangerous?" Ross asked. "What would you call a group of US-based enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders, and inflict their will wherever they choose, and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?"

He stepped off to the side and a glass screen displayed an image of the world. It zoomed in to New York, showing a video of the Hulk, smashing from building to building, destroying the Chitauri. Next was Washington D.C. There, the helicarriers that were taken down when S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, were causing a lot of destruction as they plummeted to the ground. Then, Sokovia, where half of the city ended up blown into rubble, and pieces of it rained down on the rest in the mean time. Then, lastly, there was Lagos, where the building the mercenaries had broken into was trashed and with corpses lying around.

"That one wasn't even the Avengers," Damian spoke up. "The Avengers didn't break anything in Lagos."

"That doesn't matter to the people that were there, and saw an Avenger nearly destroy a building," Ross said, Wanda staring at her feet. "For the past four years you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution." His assistant handed him a very, very thick book, probably five hundred pages. "The Sokovia Accords. Approved by a hundred seventeen countries. It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary."

"So basically, the global government has decided that the Avengers have too much freedom and they want to be able to decide when to save the world, and when to hold it for ransom," Damian summarized.

"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place," Steve said. "I feel we've done that."

"Tell me Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" Ross asked. "If I misplaced a couple of thirty megaton nukes, you can bet there'd be consequences."

"Yes but Thor and Banner aren't thirty megaton nukes," Damian said. "They're people. And people go on vacation when they need to. One of them lost a brother from what I've heard since being back, and one of them lost faith in themselves. I'd say they earned a vacation without being tracked."

"Compromise," Ross said. "Reassurance. That's how this world works."

"No, this world works by whoever hold's the highest hand beating everyone else," Damian argued. "It's like poker. We're meant to be the UN's royal flush. First they're telling us when we can and can't save the world, then they're charging the world money for us to do it."

"Believe me, this is the middle ground," Ross said. "Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords. Talk it over."

And with that, Ross and his assistant turned to walk out.

"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Natasha asked.

"Then you retire," Ross said.

"Wow," Damian said. "Being a slave or being fired as a superhero. What appealing options."

Ross walked out of the room with his assistant and Damian sighed.

"Anyone else hate him?" Damian asked.

"You seem to be awfully opposed to this," Natasha said, Steve taking the book and starting to scan through it.

"I don't trust governments," Damian said. "He has a point about the damage we cause when we fight. Not that most of it was actually us. Ultron turned half of Sokovia into a meteor, so that part was going to be broken long before e blew it up, in New York the Hulk did a couple million in damage but the Chitauri did, what, several billion, right? In Washington D.C. there just wasn't a decent way to end it."

"So you're against the Accords," Sam said.

"We do cause a lot of damage when we fight," Damian said. "The Accords are, at least theoretically, a good idea."

"So you're for them," Rhodey said.

"I'm not for or against them," Damian said. "Like I said before, it's only a matter of time before the government starts to hire us out."

"Look, the Accords are a bad idea," Sam said. "And what business does Ross have to come in here and tell us that he's going to fire us?"

"He is the Secretary of State," Natasha said.

"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have," Rhodey said, turning to Sam.

"So let's say we agree to this thing," Sam said. "How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals? I think Damian's right. We can't trust them to hold the interests of the rest of the world above their own countries who elect them."

"A hundred and seventeen countries want to sign this," Rhodey said. "A hundred and seventeen Sam. And you're just like, 'No, that's cool, we got it.'"

"How long are you gonna play both sides?" Sam asked.

"I have an equation," Vision finally interrupted, sitting forward.

"Oh this'll clear it up," Sam said.

"In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially," Vision said. "And, during the same period, the number of world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate."

"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked.

"I'm saying there may be a causality," Vision said. "Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict...breeds catastrophe. Oversight...Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand."

"Boom," Rhodey said.

"Tony," Natasha said. "You're being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal."

"It's because he's already made up his mind," Steve said.

"Boy you know me so well," Tony said, standing. "Actually I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. That's what's going on Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort."

He walked over to the sink, getting himself a coffee mug and looking in the sink.

"Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal?" Tony asked. "Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?"

He set his phone down and tapped the screen. A moment later, there was a hologram of a young boy, maybe late teens hovering in the air. Then, he pretended to not notice it for a moment.

"Oh that's Charlie Spencer, by the way," Tony said. "He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree. Three point six GPA. Had a floor-level gig for Intel planned for the fall. But first he wanted to put a few miles on his soul, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas, or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where. Sokovia. He wanted to make a difference I suppose. We won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass."

Tony put some tylenol in his mouth and swallowed it with a mouthful of his coffee.

"There's no decision-making process here," Tony continued. "We need to be put in check. Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys."

"Tony, someone dies on your watch you don't give up," Steve said.

"Who said we're giving up?" Tony asked.

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions," Steve said. "This document just shifts the blame."

"Some could argue that the Accords is us taking responsibility," Damian said. "If a dog keeps making a mess of other people's yards you put a leash on it, tie it in your own yard."

"I'm sorry, Steve," Rhodey said. "That...That is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not S.H.I.E.L.D., it's not Hydra."

"No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change," Steve said.

"That's good," Tony said. "That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing."

"Yes but Tony your weapons were capable of the same thing in the wrong hands as in the right hands, just aimed at a different spot," Damian said.

"Would you choose a side?" Sam snapped.

"I'm trying to choose a side," Damian said. "The problem is there's no right answer here. It's all a matter of perspective. From one perspective, it's like Tony stopping the manufacture of weapons. That's a good thing. From the other side it can be said that he chose to do that, and if we sign this we're surrendering our right to choose."

"Thank you," Steve said. "What if the panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there's somewhere we need to go, and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own."

"If we don't do this now, it's going to be done too us later," Tony said. "That's the fact. That won't be pretty."

"You're saying they'll come for me," Wanda stated.

"We would protect you," Vision said.

"They would have no right to come after you Wanda," Damian said. "You've done nothing wrong."

"I sent Hulk on a rampage in Africa," Wanda said. "In Lagos they're already calling for my head even though you stopped the explosion."

"No one outside of this room except for Bruce and Thor knows that the Hulk's rampage was you," Damian said. "Everyone knows that Hulk is a massive green ball of muscle and anger issues, they just think someone pissed him off. And you didn't do anything wrong in Lagos either. No one was hurt by the explosion. No property was damaged by our hands except a couple of windows and maybe a vehicle or two. They have no grounds to come after you."

Maybe Tony's right," Natasha spoke up. "If...we have one hand on the wheel we can still steer. If we take it off-"

"Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?" Sam asked.

"I'm just...I'm reading the terrain," Natasha said. "We have made some very public mistakes. We have to win their trust back."

"Focus up," Tony said. "I'm sorry. Did I mishear you or did you agree with me?"

"Oh I want to take it back now," Natasha said.

"No no no, you can't retract it," Tony said as Steve's phone began to vibrate. "Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay. Case closed. I win."

"I have to go," Steve said, hurriedly standing and rushing out of the room.

Sam raised an eyebrow and pointed after Steve and the others all shrugged.

"So, who's signing?" Tony asked.

"I am," Rhodey said.

"So am I," Natasha said.

"I will as well," Vision said.

"I'm not," Sam said. "Steve probably won't either."

"Damian, Wanda?" Tony asked.

Damian looked at Wanda, who simply stared at the floor.

"We'll think about it," Damian said. "We have three days anyway, right? We'll let you know."

Wanda nodded in agreement and Tony sighed. Then, they all drifted off, Sam following Steve, deciding that if he got bad news, he probably needed a friend. Damian went back to his room so that he could lie down and Wanda followed him. As Damian set his head on his pillow, the Hulk began to give him a face massage.

"That is extremely not helping me relax having your hands that close to my face," Damian said, eyes closed. "Could you please knock it off."

"Sorry," Wanda said.

Damian opened his eyes and saw that she had been about to hug him.

"Not you," Damian said. "You're fine. It's Hulk, er, Banner."

"Hulk?" Wanda asked, looking around. "Hallucinating?"

"Yeah," Damian nodded. "The Hulk was just giving me a face massage."

"Well that would be something to see," Wanda chuckled.

"That's nothing," Damian snorted. "In the desert, I caught Colonel Fury having a tea party with his teddy bear, and the Hulk could do British, Australian, and Arnold Schwarzenegger accents."

Wanda began to laugh at the thought. Damian grinned before remembering some of the conversations he had with his hallucinations.

"How's Pietro?" Damian asked.

"He's good," Wanda said. "He's helping Clint fix up his house in exchange for being taught martial arts. Truthfully I think he just took a liking to Clint and sees him as a father."

"You don't?" Damian asked.

"He's a good friend," Wanda said. "But, I don't know. I guess I just don't need a father as badly as Pietro."

Damian nodded.

"Women mature faster," Damian said. "Pietro has been taking care of you most of your life, right? Maybe he just needs a vacation too. Besides, super speed matched with a martial arts master would be a lethal combination."

Wanda smiled and nodded. Then, she looked concerned.

"You look tired," Wanda said. "Rest. We have plenty of time. I don't think the next alien invasion or robot army is scheduled for another week or so."

"Good," Damian laughed. "That'll give me plenty of time to find out."

"Find what out?" Wanda asked.

Damian simply smiled, closing his eyes and sighing.

"You'll find out," he said.

Then, he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

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	10. Chapter 10

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Left Behind

Damian set his book down, sighing, then walked into his bathroom, plopping down in the chair and tilting his head back, looking up at Wanda.

"How do you want it?" Wanda asked.

"Told you she'd come around," his hallucination of Tony said, shifting on the toilet seat, flicking his newspaper.

Thankfully he wasn't using the toilet, just sitting there. Damian rolled his eyes then sighed.

"Do you know how to fade?" Damian asked.

"No that's Vision's specialty," Tony said.

"Yes," Wanda said.

"Can you fade it from about an inch to about three inches?" Damian asked. "Then a hard part on the right side?"

"Sure," Wanda nodded.

She began to work and the entire time she did, Tony made remarks about what a horrible job she was doing. Then, finally, she finished and Damian looked in the mirror. She had done really well, actually. Damian turned around and instantly set his hand in his face. His hallucination of Tony was behind Wanda miming feeling her rear.

"What?" Wanda asked. "You don't like it?"

"I like the hair," Damian said. "My hallucination of Tony is behind you being an idiot."

"Oh," Wanda said. "Can I slap him?"

"Be my guest," Damian nodded.

She turned, swiping her hand like she was slapping someone, actually managing to get it at his cheek. Tony's head snapped to the side from the slap, even though she actually couldn't make contact, then rubbed his cheek.

"Ow, that's rude," Tony said. "I'm just doing what you want to."

"Tony shut up," Damian said.

"I didn't say anything!" the real Tony called from down the hall, Damian resting his face in his hand.

"Anyway, I need to take a shower," Damian said. "Thanks again for the haircut, I'll clean up."

"Alright," Wanda smiled. "You're welcome."

"Ask her to stay," hallucination Tony said. "We want you to stay. She actually might too."

Damian remained stoic as Wanda walked out of Damian's room's bathroom before closing the door and slapping Tony himself, Tony once again turning his head but then looking back and giving Damian a, "you're kidding right?" look.

"Really?" Tony asked.

"Take a hike," Damian said. "I'm taking a shower."

"We're both men," hallucination Tony said. "And you."

"And the last time I took a shower while hallucinating you, you made it the most awkward shower of my life," Damian said. "Get lost."

"How about a change of face?" hallucination Tony asked, before morphing into Wanda. "Better?"

"No," Damian said.

"I'll shower with you," hallucination Wanda offered.

"I'd like to stop hallucinating now," Damian said. "Please go away."

"Oh fine," hallucination Wanda huffed before vanishing.

Damian sighed, stripping and stepping into the shower just before a hallucination of Natasha did as well.

"Jesus!" Damian grumbled. "Just leave me alone! I'm sick of hallucinating."

"Who said this was a hallucination?" Natasha asked.

"That would be the fact that the water goes right through you," Damian said, turning away from the hallucination to wash himself.

"Were you looking at my chest?" hallucination Natasha asked. "You were! You had to have been. That's where the water would hit me."

Damian banged his head on the wall a couple of times then finished cleaning himself quickly and stepped out, quickly drying off and wrapping the towel securely around his waist. Since his private bathroom, which each member of the team had, was connected to his private bedroom, complete with his private California King bed and walk-in closet, he didn't bother to bring clothes with him so he could take a shower. He stepped into his room and stopped, seeing Natasha sitting on his bed, reading the book he kept on his nightstand, at the moment it was a fiction novel about a private investigator tracking a serial killer.

"Is there a reason you're sitting in my room while I'm taking a shower?" Damian asked.

"I'm heading to Vienna soon," Natasha said. "I need to know if you're signing the Accords. You and Wanda both."

"And you felt this couldn't wait until I was out of the shower?" Damian asked. "Or, I don't know, wearing more than a towel?"

"It is a very nice towel," Natasha smirked as Damian's still unclothed hallucination of Natasha walked over to sit behind the real one.

"Please don't," Damian said, making Natasha raise an eyebrow. "One of my hallucinations is behind you."

"I'm not going to ask what they're doing, because I probably don't want to know," Natasha said.

"No, you don't," Damian agreed, refusing to look at the hallucination. "Anyway, I probably will sign, if only to make the UN happy. I can probably talk Wanda into signing too. Now can you please leave so I can get dressed?"

"Sure," Natasha nodded, setting the book back on the nightstand and walking to the door. "Oh, and Damian?"

"What?" Damian asked, still not looking at the hallucination.

"Be good to Wanda," Natasha said before walking out of the room.

"Boy, you were in the desert a while if you were just going to stand there and let me do that," the hallucination of Natasha said.

"I'm going to shoot myself," Damian decided, getting dressed and leaving the room, Natasha thankfully finally gone, Hulk now following him around dressed in a suit with old-fashioned coattails and a monocle, a walking stick tucked under his arm. "Why are all of my hallucinations so annoyingly ridiculous?"

"Now that's just hurtful," Hulk complained.

Damian groaned, dropping himself onto the couch, face in a pillow, and then heard a tapping. He almost didn't want to look but turned his head anyway, watching the Hulk and Fury tap dancing for a moment before putting his head in the pillow again.

"I can't take much more of this," Damian grumbled.

"What is it this time?" Wanda asked. "Flirty Captain America or Tony in a wedding dress?"

"Worse," Damian said. "The Hulk and Fury are a tap dancing duet."

Wanda laughed, Damian sitting up so that she could sit beside him and lean on his shoulder, turning the TV on, though Damian couldn't see it through his hallucinations.

"Hulk you make a pretty good door," Damian said. "Get out of the way."

Wanda smiled and Hulk tapped his way off to the side, Fury going in the other direction. On TV, the news was covering the signing of the Sokovian Accords, a camera looking up at the building that the UN conference was going to be in.

"We never decided if we'd sign," Wanda said.

"I'm going to," Damian said. "At the very least it'll keep the UN happy and I'll be able to continue being an Avenger and helping people without being arrested. And if they try and use me to do something I don't like, or keep me from going somewhere I think I should, I'll disobey and retire still without being arrested."

"That's a good point," Wanda said.

"You should sign too," Damian said. "The Avengers need you."

"For what?" Wanda asked. "They have you to be the psychic now. They don't need me."

"Wanda, if I don't focus every ounce of mental strength I have into clearing my mind, my powers backfire," Damian said. "You can control yours easily. The team needs you. And even if they didn't, I need you."

Wanda smiled, then began to lean toward him. He leaned in as well, but as if on cue, Natasha stepped into the room.

"I'm heading out," Natasha said, Wanda and Damian both pulling back instantly. "Oh, sorry."

"Have a nice flight," Damian said.

"I'll be signing too, whenever we do that," Wanda said.

"Good," Natasha nodded. "Alright, have fun."

Damian stared blankly at her and she smirked and left. Then, Damian groaned, laying back as Hulk and Fury, who had previously stopped dancing, began to do it again.

"I swear if you two don't get the fuck out of here..." Damian finally growled.

Fury and the Hulk both stopped then walked out silently and Damian sighed.

"Were they still dancing?" Wanda asked.

"Yes," Damian sighed, rubbing his temples. "And it was giving me a headache."

"Let's find something more interesting to watch," Wanda offered, picking up the remote. "The conference doesn't start for a couple hours anyway."

Damian nodded and Wanda turned it to Scifi where one low-budget horror movie or another was playing. Then, she lay down on top of Damian, allowing Damian to straighten his legs out and wrap his left arm around her. He glanced at the other couch and saw Pietro sitting there, giving him a thumbs up.

"Is your brother sitting on that couch?" Damian asked.

Wanda looked over at it and shook her head.

"Good," Damian said, flipping the hallucination of.

"What's he doing?" Wanda asked.

"Being Pietro," Damian said.

Wanda smiled, slipping her hand into his right one, thumb running over his.

"It's amazing how smooth Vibranium is," Wanda said.

"Yeah," Damian nodded. "Anytime I punch someone with it it's like getting hit with velvet. Wrapped around a ton of bricks."

Wanda snorted and rolled her eyes. Then, she sighed, closing them and drifting off to sleep. Damian chuckled, then glared at his hallucination, now Thor, sitting on the couch with a mug of beer in one hand and a handle of Captain Morgan in the other. He didn't bother to say anything. hopefully his hallucinations couldn't get drunk. If they could, it was about to be very annoying for him. He switched the TV back to the conference then closed his eyes as well, drifting off to sleep.

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	11. Chapter 11

Ido not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Suspect

Damian stirred and looked at the TV. The conference was just starting, finally. He gently shook Wanda awake and she smiled up at him before turning to the TV. On it, the Wakandan King was discussing Ultron's use of Vibranium in an attempt to destroy the world. He discussed the fact that he was attempting to "better the world that Wakanda is trying to join" and that he thanked the Avengers for supporting the Accords, at least, in half.

"We should be there," Damian said. "We'll be late to sign."

"That's alright," Wanda said. "We don't need to sign it yet. And Nat will probably sign it for us anyway."

Just then, the TV was filled with an explosion. Both sat bolt upright, staring at the TV. It was utter chaos. After a few minutes, firetrucks arrived to start putting the fire out and the newscasters around finally managed to start talking about what happened.

"A bomb hidden in a news van, ripped through the UN building in Vienna," the newscaster said. "More than seventy people have been injured. At least twelve are dead, including Wakanda's King, T'Chaka. Officials have released a video of the suspect who they have identified as James Buchanan Barnes, the Winter Soldier. Barnes is an infamous Hydra agent linked to numerous acts of terrorism and political assassinations. Anyone with information on the suspect is urged to report it immediately."

"Isn't Barnes a friend of Steve's?" Damian asked.

"Yes," Wanda nodded.

Damian backed the TV up then paused it on the image of the suspect's face. Most of the man's face was blurry from the poor camera quality, and he had a dark hood up, hiding anything above the top quarter of his forehead, and the jacket's high collar hid everything below his mouth.

"Vision!" Damian called, Vision stepping into the room a moment later. "What's the probability that that's not actually Barnes?"

"I detect a seventy five percent chance that it is not," Vision said.

"Thanks," Damian said, picking up a phone and dialing Natasha. "Romanoff, it's Damian. Vision says that it's not Barnes."

"When did I say that?" Vision asked, Damian holding up a hand.

"What do you mean?" Natasha asked.

"It's not Barnes," Damian said. "Think about it. If it were Barnes, he'd have put the van inside the building and killed everyone."

"Unless he only wanted T'Chaka," Natasha said.

"Why would he only want him?" Damian asked.

"I don't know, the Winter Soldier was never very clear about why he attacked certain people," Natasha said.

"Listen," Damian said. "We both know who's going to try and bring him in alive. And if he is innocent, that's good. Because it means we won't be killing an innocent man."

"No one's killing anyone," Natasha said.

"Come on Romanoff," Damian said. "You and I both know they'll be given shoot on sight orders. I'm going to go help Steve. Steve is the least likely to die trying, and if my name is on the Accords roster, I can keep him out of trouble. You know how good I can be at sweet talking."

"You are a silver-tongued bullshitter," Natasha agreed. "Alright. I'll make sure your name's on the list, you keep Cap out of trouble."

"Tell her to add mine too," Wanda said.

"Wanda says she wants you to double-check her name too," Damian said.

"Will do," Natasha said. "And Damian. Be careful."

"I will," Damian agreed. "See you after they arrest me."

He hung up and sighed, standing.

"Well, looks like I'm going to have to leave you and Vision alone for a bit," Damian said.

"It's alright," Wanda smiled. "Be careful, okay?"

"I will," Damian nodded. "Be back soon."

As he waked out of the room, he dialed Steve.

"Hey Cap, it's Damian," Damian said. "Where's he at? I'm coming to help bring him in."

"I thought you signed the Accords," Steve said.

"I did," Damian said. "Because now, I can tell the politicians to kiss my ass twice before they arrest me."

"He's in Bucharest," Steve said. "I'll send you the coordinates of where to meet us when you're in a jet. Are you bringing Wanda?"

"Just me," Damian said, getting on the jet and closing the ramp. "Unless you count the hallucinations. Then maybe. Alright, I'm on the jet. Send the coordinates."

A couple minutes later, Damian was off, picking up Steve and Sam from a field somewhere in England, then flying to Bucharest. After a couple of hours, they landed somewhere where no one would see them and Damian sent the jet back to the Avengers facility.

"Why'd you end our ride home away?" Sam asked.

"Oh please," Damian said. "There's no way we're going to take Barnes in without being arrested, it doesn't work like that. We don't need the jet."

"I agree," Steve said. "But at least he'll be alive."

Damian nodded and they all waked into the city, Steve leading them to an apartment building where he said Barnes was living. Sam went to the roof to keep watch, and Damian and Steve walked inside, finding Barnes' apartment to be empty. Steve walked over to the fridge as Damian looked out the window.

"Heads up guys," Sam said over the communicators. "German special forces approaching from the south."

"Got it," Steve said.

Damian glanced toward the door and stopped. Barnes was standing about two feet from him, Damian never having known he was there.

"Man you are terrifyingly good," Damian said, Steve turning around to see who he was talking about.

"Do you know me?" Steve asked.

"You're Steve," Barnes said. "I read about you in a museum."

"They've set the perimeter," Sam said.

"I know you're nervous, and you have plenty of reason to be," Steve said, setting the book he had been looking at down. "But you're lying."

"I wasn't in Vienna," Barnes said. "I don't do that anymore."

"They're entering the building," Sam said.

"We know you didn't," Damian said. "But we've only got a couple of seconds before the people who think you did bust in here and kill you. So we might want to get moving. We can help you but only of you're alive and you don't kill anyone on the way out."

"They're on the roof, I'm compromised," Sam said.

"They're going to shoot on sight," Barnes said. "That's smart. Good strategy."

"This doesn't have to end in a fight Buck," Steve said.

"It always ends in a fight," Barnes said.

"Five seconds!" Sam said.

"You pulled me from the river," Steve said. "Why?"

"I don't know," Barnes said, pulling a glove off his left arm, displaying his shiny metal hand.

"Three seconds," Sam said.

"Yes you do," Steve said.

"Breach! Breach! Breach!" Sam shouted.

At the same time, a flashbang grenade was fired through the window and Steve smashed it back out with his shield. The next in Barnes kicked to Steve, who slammed his shield down over it. Then, a third came in, but was blocked by the mattress Damian was holding to the window. Someone began to hit the door with a battering ram, somehow not breaking it the first three times they hit it. Barnes hurled his table into the corner, blocking the door even further just before two special forces troops crashed in through the window. Barnes punched one with his human arm and Damian dropped the other with his Vibranium one, a metal clang filling the room as it his the man's kevlar helmet. Then, Barnes hurled his target into the wall as a patio door burst open and a soldier charged Steve, only for Steve to catch his rifle and Barnes to kick him, knocking him out. Barnes then moved to the door.

"Buck stop!" Steve shouted, catching his hood, making Barnes spin toward him. "You're gonna kill someone."

Barnes instantly slammed Steve to the ground and punched the floor beside his head.

"I'm not gonna kill anyone," Barnes said, ripping a hidden backpack up from under the floor before hurling it out of the apartment to the roof of the next building over.

Another soldier dropped in the far window but before he could shoot at anyone, Damian swept his legs out from under him then knocked him out with a quick tap to the head. Another came through the window with a shotgun and Barnes shoved Steve out the window, shield first. Just then, someone shot out the hinges on the door. Damian smirked and at the same time as Barnes put his mechanical arm through a wall to knock out one of the soldiers waiting outside, Damian kicked the door, smashing it into three more. Damian stepped out, punching two before kicking a third just as another, most likely the last on the roof, smashed through the skylight, beginning to rappel down the center of the stairwell, shooting at Damian, who blocked the bullets with his arm. Barnes stepped out of the room, grabbing the soldier's rifle and smashing him into the wall before picking up the battering ram and smashing it into one of the soldiers hit with the door, then one coming up the stairs. Damian passed him, kicking the next one coming up the stairs and Barnes jumped onto the now dangling soldier, using him to swing around to a lower point on the stairs, grabbing the one just above him and hurling him into the two below him. Damian jumped to the next point down, hitting one with a flying lariat using his left arm before spinning and kicking another over the railing toward the next level down. He began to fall short just as Steve flipped down to that level, catching him and looking up at Damian.

"Really?" Steve asked.

"What?" Damian asked. "I'm still getting used to my strength. Besides, you caught him."

Just then, Barnes ripped the top part of the railing off and used it to swing down a level, kicking a soldier through a door as he did. Then, he lunged down the stairs, punching another soldier into the wall before flipping over the railing and dropping several stories before catching the railing, stopping himself. Damian and Steve sprinted after him, Damian taking down two more soldiers on the way, before turning into the room Barnes had jumped from, running to the balcony and stopping, seeing someone wearing a black body suit and mask with some kind of claws attacking Barnes on the next roof over.

"Sam southwest rooftop," Steve said, backing up.

"Who the hell's the other guy?" Sam asked.

"About to find out," Steve said.

Then, he sprinted forward, leaping over the railing and landing on the edge of the building before rolling forward and sprinting at the fighting pair.

"Oh this is such a bad idea," Damian said, also backing up. "Sam, would you mind catching me if I miss?"

Then, he sprinted forward, jumping onto the railing then off of it, leaping to the rooftop and landing in a roll, shockingly not killing himself. Then, he sprinted after Steve, who had stopped when a chopper began to shoot at the man in black, the bullets bouncing off of his suit.

"Vibranium," Damian realized, sprinting past Steve as Sam slammed into the chopper's tail, forcing the pilot to regain control.

Barnes kicked the man off and took off running, the man following only for Damian to tackle him, pinning him down.

"T'Challa!" Damian said. "It wasn't him!"

"It was!" T'Challa said, kicking Damian off and sprinting after Barnes again.

"Did you just say T'Challa?" Steve asked, stopping beside Damian as he flipped to his feet, cracking his neck.

"Yes," Damian said. "And now we chase them."

"On it," Steve said, jumping off the side of the building, using his shield to cushion his fall.

Damian dropped off a moment later, landing just behind him and sprinting after him. Both dropped over the edge of the road they were on, landing in the middle of one below, then looking around, seeing T'Challa and Barnes in the distance, sprinting away.

"I'm so glad I asked T'Chaka for these after Ultron," Damian said, pulling his combat boots off and tossing them aside, revealing his Vibranium-Adamantium alloy shoes.

"How thick are those?" Steve asked.

"Thicker than necessary for my purposes," Damian said. "Try to keep up."

And with that, he was off, the Vibranium shoes sending him hurtling along the road, Steve sprinting along just behind him

"Nice shoes," Steve said. "Very helpful."

"Agreed," Damian said. "And with the upgrade Tony gave me, more than enough to catch them."

Suddenly, a police SUV began to catch up and Damian smirked, speeding up. As he did, Steve jumped, his shield hitting the windshield, the cop slamming on the break. Then, Steve pulled him out, kicked the windshield out, and sped off in the stolen vehicle. He quickly passed Damian, who rolled his eyes, then T'Challa, who leapt on, his Vibranium claws allowing him to easily latch onto the vehicle. Steve began to try to shake him off but it was no good. Soon, there were police cars starting to catch up to them as well, nearly twenty of them. Steve began to slam his vehicle into their as they caught up to him, slowing himself and them down enough for Damian to pull ahead of him. Ahead of Damian, more cars began to enter the underpass so Barnes, and then Damian, both leapt over several barrels of probably sand serving as a barrier. Steve crashed through right after, T'Challa still holding on. Up ahead, Barnes caught a motorcycle with his left hand, knocking the rider off of it, then flipped it around onto the road, leaping onto it in mid air, then sped off.

"Show off," Damian said.

Then, he jumped, landing on the hood of Steve's SUV. He turned to T'Challa and T'Challa stared at him.

"Someone's framing him, T'Challa," Damian said. "What purpose would a master assassin have of showing his face on camera just after bombing the UN building and starting a global hunt for himself? It doesn't make any sense."

"He killed my father," T'Challa said, getting his feet under him. "I'll kill him."

"Then I'm sorry about this," Damian said before ripping the roof of the SUV off with his vibranium arm, flipping it to the side where it crashed into the wall harmlessly, T'Challa landing in a roll and Damian dropping down beside Steve. "Alright, now let's catch up."

Just as he said this, Barnes hurled an explosive onto the overpass above them, the explosion dropping the cement. Sam, who had been flying behind them with T'Challa clinging to his leg, stopped on a dime, T'Challa shooting past Damian and Steve after Barnes, slashing his rear tire. Damian leapt out, flying past the cement a second before Steve cut the wheel and bailed, making the vehicle roll rather than jump from the pile of cement on the road. Damian reached T'Challa first, wrapping his right arm around him and dragging him away from Barnes, then setting him on his feet as dozens of police cars skidded to a stop around them. He took a couple of steps back, raising his hands.

"I'm sorry, your highness," Damian said. "But Barnes is innocent this time. Someone framed him."

T'Challa stared at him, retracting his claws as the police hurried forward, weapons drawn. Then, War Machine landed beside them, aiming one hand at Steve, one at Damian, and his minigun at Barnes.

"Stand down, now," Rhodey ordered.

Steve put his shield on his back, raising his hands, and T'Challa pulled his helmet off, holding it under his arm.

"Congratulations, Cap," Rhodey said. "You're a criminal."

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	12. Chapter 12

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

House Arrest

Damian stepped out of the van and stared at the jet.

"You're going home," Tony said. "I was able to convince Ross that, since your name was on the Accords, you should be granted some forgiveness. You're under house arrest with Wanda."

"Wanda?" Damian blinked, turning to him. "You put Wanda under house arrest? Why?"

"To avoid the possibility of another public incident," Tony said. "Oh, and you can thank your friend T'Challa for you not being in trouble."

"T'Challa?" Damian blinked.

"Said he wanted a favor," Tony said. "Have a nice flight."

Damian sighed, getting in the jet and taking off. After roughly two hours, he touched down outside of the Avengers facility. He walked into the facility and found Wanda sitting on the couch, Vision sitting in a chair off to the side.

"I'm back," Damian said. "And under house arrest."

"Oh you too?" Wanda asked. "Yeah I was going to go to the store, but apparently Tony doesn't want me starting trouble."

"So I heard," Damian nodded. "Come on. Let's go start trouble."

Wanda smiled standing only for Vision to stand as well.

"Vision, we'll be fine," Damian said.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to leave," Vision said.

"I'll be right there," Damian said.

"That's what concerns me the most," Vision said. "After your actions in Germany, I cannot allow you to leave this house."

"Vision, it's the store," Damian said. "I'm making sure there's enough junk food so that we don't have to order pizza every night. We're not going to cause trouble. At least, not right now."

Vision stared at him for a moment in silence.

"Very well," Vision said. "But only for twenty minutes, and you cannot be noticed by anyone."

Damian grinned and nodded, pulling on a jacket and gloves, hiding his vibranium arm and armor. Then, he pulled on a pair of sunglasses and a ball cap, walking out of the facility with Wanda behind him, wearing a brown jacket, a cap, and a pair of her own glasses. Damian drove, going exactly five miles an hour too fast until they reached the store. Then, he stopped and looked to Wanda.

"So, what're we getting?" Damian asked.

"Paprika," Wanda said. "Vision tried to make me Paprikash, but he's not exactly the best cook, on account of never having eaten."

"Fair enough," Damian chuckled. "Alright. So, what do we need and what else do you want?"

Wanda smiled and took the basket, walking off into the store just as Damian's pone rang. He sighed, raising it to his ear.

"Why aren't you at home?" Tony asked.

"Didn't feel like eating nothing but pizza," Damian said, following Wanda. "Relax, we're not going to start trouble."

"Somehow I don't believe you," Tony said. "Make it quick. If you're spotted outside the house there's going to be trouble."

"We'll be fine," Damian said. "Gotta go."

He hung up, closing his phone just as Wanda walked over, basket filled with more things than Damian had expected.

"Done," Wanda said.

"Good," Damian smiled. "We might be early."

They went through the checkout and Damian payed before heading back to the facility, getting back with a few minutes to spare. Then, they set about putting everything away. Once finished, Damian pulled out his phone, dialing Tony.

"Let me guess, you want permission to go for a drive," Tony said.

"Actually I was going to tell you to have your suit ready," Damian said. "As I tried to explain to T'Challa, Barnes was framed. He's a master assassin who's highly wanted and has escaped detection until now. There's no way he would slip up and get his face on the news. Think it through genius. Get your suit ready. They were trying to flush him out and now he's vulnerable. They'll be after him soon."

"We'll be ready," Tony said.

"Good," Damian said. "Now give Steve the phone."

"How do you know he's here?" Tony asked.

"Because you want him to sign, and I want him to not be fired," Damian said.

There was silence for several seconds as Tony passed the phone off.

"Damian?" Steve asked.

"Sign," Damian said. "You need to not be in trouble when they come for Barnes. Just do it."

Steve sighed over the phone.

"Fine," Steve said. "I'll sign. But only because you're right about me needing to not be in trouble when they come for Barnes."

Damian hung up and sighed, slipping the phone back in his pocket. Then, Natasha sat on the counter behind Wanda, stark naked and grinning, one eyebrow raised.

"Great," Damian sighed. "And here I thought I was done with you."

"What?" Wanda asked, eyes widening.

"I'm hallucinating again," Damian sighed.

"Really?" Wanda asked, worriedly. "What do you see?"

Damian risked a glance up from the floor to Natasha and rolled his eyes, sighing.

"Romanoff," Damian grumbled.

"I take it it's entertaining?" Wanda guessed.

"Not exactly no," Damian sighed, picking up the remote and turning the TV on, eyebrow twitching as porn came on. "What's the TV playing?"

"The news, why?" Wanda asked.

"Not what I see," Damian sighed. "Mind playing telephone?"

Wanda smiled and nodded, leaning against the counter.

"James Barnes, the suspect in the UN Vienna bombing..." Wanda's face grew serious instantly. "...escaped custody today. Also missing, the Avengers Captain Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson. The breakout occurred during a power outage that took place at approximately seventeen forty and resulted in the deaths of fifteen."

"Yup, called it," Damian said, dialing Tony.

"No 'I told you so's," Tony said instantly.

"Didn't suit up did you?" Damian asked.

"I did," Tony said. "Steven signed and I suited up and then the power went out and he beat us up and left. Now Steve and Sam are both missing."

"Don't worry about them," Damian said. "They'll be getting into trouble again shortly."

"Right," Tony said. "I've been ordered by Ross to bring Steve, Sam, and Barnes all into custody within the next thirty six hours."

"Rough timeline," Damian said. "Good luck."

"You're not helping?" Tony asked.

"House arrest," Damian said, hanging up.

His phone rang instantly.

"Tony I'm not-"

"It's Steve," Steve interrupted. "I need you and Wanda in Germany. We've got Bucky and he's under control again, but he just told us that the guy that freed him is going to go and wake up the other five Winter Soldiers."

"Five?" Damian gaped.

"Yes," Steve said. "All super soldiers like me and all of them speak thirty languages, have advanced martial arts abilities and can topple a government overnight."

"Right," Damian said. "Send the coordinate."

"Already did," Steve said.

Damian hung up, slipping his phone into his pocket.

"We need to go, now," Damian said.

"I cannot allow that," Vision said, phasing up through the floor.

"Five incredibly dangerous super soldiers are about to be released on the world," Damian said. "We have to stop them."

"I cannot let you leave," Vision said. "I was ordered to keep you here."

"You know you can't do that," Damian said. "You would rather let them loose?"

"I did not say that," Vision said.

Just then, something exploded in the distance. Vision turned, flying through the wall and then leaving to investigate. Just as he did, Pietro appeared beside Damian in a blur.

"Wanda, is he real?" Damian asked.

"Yes," Wanda nodded. "And so is Barton."

"Barton?" Damian blinked, turning around as Barton hurried into the room, drawing an arrow and shooting it into one trap then a second into the wall directly opposite it. "What are you doing?"

"Disappointing my kids," Barton said. "We're supposed to go waterskiing. But, Cap needs us. Come on, we gotta go."

"Right," Damian nodded, taking Wanda's hand to run just as Vision returned, phasing through the wall.

"Clint, Pietro," Vision said. "You should not be here."

"Really?" Barton asked. "I retire for, what, like five minutes and it all goes to shit."

"Please consider the consequences of your actions," Vision said.

"Okay their considered," Barton said just as the two arrows electrified Vision. "And we gotta go."

He and Pietro ran toward the door but when Damian began to follow, Wanda tugged her hand back.

"I'm not going," Wanda said. "I've cause enough trouble."

"Wanda we've been over this, nothing happened in Lagos, now let's go," Damian said.

"Too late," Barton said as Vision blasted one of the arrows and strode forward. Damian rolled his eyes.

"Fine," Damian said. "We'll do this the hard way."

"You wanna mope, you can go to high school," Barton said as Damian fought Vision, meaning his strikes phased through Vision and he avoided or blocked Vision's. "You wanna make amends, you get of your ass."

Damian suddenly sailed past them, Pietro catching him as Barton stepped forward. Before he could attack, Vision grabbed his bow and shoved him, throwing him backward and tossing the bow. Then, Damian leapt over Barton, punching at Vision. Vision caught the strike and Damian landed on his feet.

"Don't make me force you Vision," Damian said. "My control's not that good and I don't want to break you again."

"I will not allow you to leave," Vision said. "Further involvement will only cause more trouble."

Damian swung his other fist only for Vision to block the bunch then flip Damian, hurling him into Barnes. Then, he froze, the crystal on his head glowing red as Wanda formed a sphere of red energy between her hands.

"Wanda, if you do this, they will never stop being afraid of you," Vision warned, the floor below him beginning to crack.

"I can't control their fear, only my own," Wanda said before sending Vision shooting straight downward through the ground.

"Well, he's going to be mad," Damian said. "I think this is a perfect time to leave."

"Agreed," Barton said.

Wanda nodded and Damian grabbed her hand, all four of them running out of the building.

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	13. Chapter 13

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Civil War

Damian stopped as an electromagnetic pulse shot over the chopper they had been headed toward, disabling it. The others, now also including Steve and a guy calling himself Ant Man who apparently fought Sam and won once, stopped around him as well as Tony and Rhodey floated down from above.

"Wow it's so weird how you run into people at the airport," Tony said, his mask retracting as he looked over at Rhodey. "Don't you think that's weird?"

"Definitely weird," Rhodey agreed.

"Hear me out Tony," Steve said. "That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this."

Just then, T'Challa leapt over the tail of a plane off to Damian's right, landing on his feet.

"Captain," T'Challa greeted.

"Your Highness," Steve nodded.

"Anyway," Tony said. "Ross gave me thirty six hours to bring you in. That was twenty four hours ago. Can you help a brother out?"

"You're after the wrong guy," Steve said.

"Your judgement is askew," Tony said. "Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday."

"And there are five more super soldiers just like him," Steve said. "I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony, I can't."

"Steve," Natasha's voice said as she stepped into view off to the side. "You know what's about to happen. Do you really want to punch your way out of this one?"

"Alright," Tony said. "I've run out of patience. Underoos!"

Suddenly, webbing of some sort shot down from above, sticking to Steve's shield and yanking it away from him while binding his hands. Then, a person wearing a red and blue suit with oddly shaped eyes and black webbing designs in the red with a black spider-shaped symbol on his chest landed on a luggage truck, now holding Steve's shield. Judging by physical size Damian would guess he was about his and Wanda's age.

"Nice job kid," Tony said.

"Thanks," the kid said. "Well, I could have stuck the landing a little better, it's just, the new suit...wait, it's nothing. Mr. Starrk, it's perfect. Thank you."

"Yeah we don't really need to start a conversation," Tony said.

"Okay," the kid said then saluted at Steve. "Cap-Cap'm. Big fan. Spiderman."

"Yeah we'll talk about it later," Tony said. "Just..."

"Hey everyone," Spiderman said, waving.

"...good job," Tony finished, turning back to the others.

"Overwhelming working with the Avengers isn't it kid?" Damian asked. "Sorry it had to be under such horrible circumstances."

"I know right?" Spiderman said.

"You've been busy," Steve said.

"And you've been a complete idiot," Tony said. "Dragging in Clint, 'rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep...I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you put me and Wanda under house arrest," Damian said. "I can understand me. I earned it. But all Wanda did was stop someone from blowing up Steve."

"Alright we're done," Tony said. "You're going to turn over Barnes and you're going to come with us now! Because it's us, or a squad of JSOC guys with no compunction about being impolite."

"We found it," Sam's voice suddenly said through the communicators they had. "The Quinjet's in hangar five, north runway."

Steve turned to Damian who extended his robotic arm's blade and cut his hands free before retracting it.

"Alright Lang," Steve said.

Damian blinked, looking around and seeing Ant Man was gone.

"Hey guys, something-" Spiderman was cut off as Ant Man appeared beside him, doing a back flip and kicking him away while grabbing the shield and landing beside Steve.

"I believe this is yours Captain America," Ant Man said.

Steve nodded and looked back at Tony.

"So," Damian said. "Shall we get started, or are we going to just argue the next twelve hours away."

"Good point," Tony said.

Then, he shot toward Steve. Damian stepped forward, clotheslining him and flipping him end for end before Steve slammed his shield into Tony's chest, launching him backward. As Damian stepped toward Rhodey, T'challa tackled him.

"You do not deserve my father's gifts!" T'Challa snarled.

"I may owe you one but I'm not repaying it today," Damian said, kicking T'Challa and throwing him backward. He flipped just as Rhodey's head snapped around.

"I found Wilson and Barnes," Rhodey said.

"Barnes is mine!" T'Challa said, turning in the direction Rhodey was looking and taking off, Steve sprinting after him.

Damian turned back to Rhodey to find his minigun and both hands aimed at him.

"Overkill," Damian said.

"You've stopped bullets before," Rhodey said.

"On instinct sure," Damian nodded.

Then, his hand snapped up and Rhodey's minigun crumpled. Rhodey instinctively looked and Damian tackled him, Rhodey's lasers shooting into the air. Then, Damian grabbed Rhodey by the front of the chest piece and spun, hurling him into the side of a plane and blasting him straight through it. As he turned, Natasha kicked him in the side of the leg then flipped, pinning his head between her shins and flipping around him, hurling him. He landed in a roll, managing to get his feet under him in time to catch a punch with his right hand.

"Sorry Romanoff," Damian said, spinning and hurling her.

Then, he turned as Spiderman shot toward him, throwing a punch. Damian once again caught it with his right hand but only barely. His eyes widened the kid was insanely strong.

"What you've got one too?" Spiderman gaped. "That's awesome! I'm so jealous!"

"I didn't get anesthetics," Damian said. "Don't be."

Then, he drilled one of his vibranium knee guards into Spiderman's stomach, launching him backward. He turned, ducking under Rhodey's fist just before Wanda's powers yanked him backward and a massive fuel truck crashed down, exploding and barely missing Rhodey.

"Oh shit, I thought it was a water truck!" Ant Man said. "I'm so sorry!"

Damian landed on his feet and they all sprinted toward the hangar, Sam and Barnes joining them after a moment. They could see it. A thousand meters at most. Then, a yellow energy beam hit the ground and they stopped short, the beam forming a curved line in front of them before Vision floated down to hover before them.

"Captain Rogers, I know you believe what you are doing is right, but for the collective good, you must surrender now," Vision said as Tony landed on the other side of the line with Natasha.

Then, Rhodey flew over, dropping T'Challa before landing beside Tony as Spiderman swung over on a web and landed beside Natasha. Six against Eight. Damian's side had a numbers advantage. Tony's side had Vision.

"So that's it then," Damian said.

"What do we do Cap?" Sam asked.

"We fight," Steve said, starting forward, the others all following suit.

Then, it was chaos. Steve and Tony were fighting, Natasha and Clint, Rhodey and Sam, T'Challa and Barnes, Ant Man and Wanda were helping where needed, Spiderman was doing the same, and Damian was standing below Vision. Vision floated down to land before him and stared at him.

"I didn't want to have to do this, Vision," Damian said. "You could have let us go and we would be on our way to Siberia by now. But you chose to try to stop us. So this fight is as much on your head as ours."

"That may be," Vision said. "But you are the ones who refuse to stand down and explain to Secretary Ross."

"Because Ross hates heroes," Damian said. "He would love to see us all locked up."

Damian sighed.

"This is getting us nowhere," Damian said. "Let's get this over with. And if you don't mind, no phasing through me for this, alright? I want to see how good I am."

Vision nodded and both charged. Vision struck first with a haymaker but Damian ducked to the side, avoiding it and slamming his right fist into Vision's face. Vision flipped backward before Damian stepped forward, his left slamming into Vision, making him stagger backward. Vision recovered quickly this time, catching Damian's next punch and flipping him then slamming a kick into his chest, throwing him. Damian flipped, landing on his feet and tearing along the ground, glad he had left his boots behind in favor of his vibranium shoes. Then, he sprinted forward, sweeping a punch aside and slamming a Lariat into Vision's chest, launching him. Vision flipped and stopped himself, firing an energy beam at Damian, only for Damian to roll out of the way.

Damian held his arm out, using his powers to pick up a bus and hurling it at Vision only for the bus to break apart against him. Then, Vision shot forward, grabbing Damian by the throat and dragging him along the ground for a hundred meters before spinning and hurling him. Damian blasted through a plane before Wanda caught him, setting him on the ground.

"Thanks!" Damian shouted as Vision shot toward him again, one fist pulled back.

Both swung as hard as they could, fists exploding into each other and both flew backward. Damian flipped, landing on his feet just as Rhodey shot toward him. He flipped, slamming a kick into Rhodey and sending him flying at Vision, who caught him.

"We need a distraction, something big," Steve said over the communicators.

"I got something big," Ant Man said. "I've tried it a few times. Well, once. And I passed out. Wait for my signal. And if I rip myself in half, do not come back for me."

"What the hell are you doing?" Damian demanded.

"Damian, you're coming with us," Steve said.

"Vision's going to make that difficult," Damian said, ducking under a punch and slamming several quick jabs into his torso then a roundhouse kick to his head, throwing him.

Suddenly, Ant Man was towering over everyone, holding Rhodey by the foot as everyone stared in shock.

"I guess that's the signal," Damian said as Vision shot toward him again. "Sorry Vision. This might hurt."

Then, he sent a blast of power at Vision, blasting him away and sending him crashing through the ground. As soon as the blast hit, Damian took off at a sprint, streaking along the ground after Steve and Barnes, not bothering to look back and see how Ant Man was doing. Suddenly, a golden energy beam began to cut through an air traffic control tower beside the hangar and it began to fall. Red energy caught it instantly as Steve and Barnes sprinted toward it, Damian quickly gaining. Then, Wanda screamed and the energy faded. Damian's own energy replaced it and he turned, looking back.

"Wanda!" Damian shouted, seeing Rhodey using a sonic cannon on her.

"Go!" she shouted back.

He grit his teeth and turned, seeing Steve and Barnes pass under it and let it fall. Just before it hit, T'Challa slipped under. Then, Damian turned, grabbing Rhodey with his powers and hurling him sideways into Tony. He sprinted over, skidding to a stop beside Wanda and lifting her upper body into his lap. She was dazed and barely able to stay awake.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Why didn't you go?" Wanda asked.

"You needed help," he said.

Just then, Vision landed in front of them.

"I'm sorry," Vision said.

"Us too," Damian said.

"It's as I said," Vision said. "Catastrophe."

"It could have been avoided," Damian said.

"Vision I got a bandit on my six," Rhodey's voice said from Vision's communicator. "Vision, you copy? Target his thrusters. Turn him into a glider."

Vision looked up, firing an energy beam at Sam.

"They won't stop the Quinjet," Damian said.

Sam suddenly retracted his wings, dropping out of the way just as the beam blasted Rhodey's suit's arc reactor, taking the suit's power away. Rhodey began to fall instantly, Vision watching in shocked horror. Tony and Sam both turned, shooting down after him but before he could land, Damian raised his arm, blue energy encasing Rhodey, slowing him down rapidly. Still, he was going to impact hard, probably break something. Then, at the last second, Tony and Sam each grabbed an arm, yanking him to a stop and landing lightly.

"That was close," Damian said.

"Indeed," Vision said.

"Guess this means we're all criminals," Damian said.

"Indeed it does," Vision said. "Leave. You need to go after Captain Rogers. You have to stop the Winter Soldiers."

"I doubt I'd get far," Damian said.

"Then you should start running," Vision said.

Damian nodded, standing and smiling at Wanda before taking off at a sprint, streaking away from the airport too fast for anyone to stop him before he was gone.

* * *

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	14. Chapter 14

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

True Agenda

Damian slowed to a stop as a jet landed before him. The back hatch opened and T'Challa stepped out, staring at him.

"Your Highness," Damian bowed. "You come to take me in?"

"I came to give you a ride," T'Challa said. "I know you are going after Rogers and Barnes anyway. So I figured you wouldn't want to run. Besides, Vision told me about the other Winter Soldiers. I am still going to take my revenge on Barnes, but we cannot allow the other five to get loose."

"Thank you," Damian said, walking onto the ship. "While we're there, we'll prove Barnes is innocent."

"We shall see," T'Challa said. "I must apologize for what happened earlier."

"It's alright," Damian said. "Let's just get going. We can worry about who was right and who was wrong later."

T'Challa nodded, closing the ramp.

* * *

Damian jogged away from the jet, into the base. After a couple of seconds, he caught up with Tony, who stare at him.

"I stole a plane," Damian said.

"Sure you did," Tony said. "Come on. You guys were right."

"I know," Damian said. "Keep up."

He jogged off down one of the passageways, quickly speeding along it until he reached a double door. He pulled the door opened and stared at Steve and Barnes, Barnes holding a machine gun aimed at him and Steve with his shield raised.

"Nice to see you too," Damian said.

"Damian," Steve said, both lowering their weapons. "Glad you could make it."

"I have a surprise for you too," Damian said. "Tony's here to help. Turns out he finally figured out we were right."

Tony stepped past Damian and retracted his mask.

"Cap," Tony said. "Ross doesn't know I'm here and I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise I'd have to arrest myself."

"That does seem like a lot of paperwork," Steve said. "It's good to see you Tony."

"You too," Tony nodded.

They continued through the base, Tony taking the lead and Damian bringing up the rear. Then, finally, they reached a large open room. Just as they stepped into it, five stasis tanks lit up yellow. Damian looked around at them. Each had a single bullet hole in them.

"If it's any consolation, they died in their sleep," a voice said over the intercom as they walked through the room looking around at the corpses. "Did you really think I wanted more of you? I am grateful to them though. They brought you here."

Suddenly, a light off to the side turned on, illuminating the face of the fake psychiatrist, Zemo. Instantly, Tony, and Barnes aimed at him as Damian glanced to the side, seeing T'Challa taking cover behind the door, waiting for a chance to strike. Steve hurled his shield at Zemo, the shield bouncing off of something just short of it. Then, the rest of the lights came on, revealing a blast shelter made out of massive steel plates with a small window, through which Zemo was smiling at them.

"Please Captain," Zemo said. "The Russians built this chamber to withstand the ignition of UR-100 rockets."

"I'm betting I could beat that," Tony said.

"I'm sure you could, given time," Zemo said. "But then you'd never know why you were here."

"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Steve asked stepping up to the window.

"I've thought about nothing else for over a year," Zemo said. "I've studied you. I've followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized...there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw."

"You're Sokovian," Steve said. "Is that what this is about?"

"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to Hell," Zemo said. "No. I'm here because I made a promise."

"You lost someone," Steve said.

"I lost everyone," Zemo said. "And so will you."

Suddenly, a computer beside them turned on, displaying a date.

"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again," Zemo said. "But one which crumbles from within? That's dead. Forever."

They all walked over to the computer, watching the video.

"I know that road," Tony said suddenly.

"What is this?" Tony asked.

Suddenly, a car crashed into a tree on-screen, hard. Damian felt his stomach turn as he guessed who it was, and what Zemo meant. As they watched, an elderly Howard Stark crawled out of the car, only for Barnes to catch him by the hair.

"Sergeant Barnes," Howard said.

"Howard!" Tony's mother cried out.

Then, the Barnes on the screen proceeded to beat Howard to death with his mechanical arm. Then, he put him back in the car, making it look like the accident killed him. Then, he walked to the other side. Tony's mother's death was slightly more humane. He choked her to death, rather than beating her face in. Then, he shot the camera. The video ended and Steve stared at Tony worriedly. Just as Tony took a step toward Barnes, Steve caught him.

"No wait, Tony," Steve said.

"Did you know?" Tony asked.

"I didn't know it was him," Steve said.

"Don't bullshit me Rogers, did you know?" Tony demanded.

"Yes," Steve said after a moment, Tony yanking his arm free of Steve's grip.

He nodded for a moment before his arm snapped up and he blasted Steve away as he put his mask on. He turned, and blasted Barnes' gun before Damian's arm smashed into his side, throwing him.

"Barnes, go," Damian said.

Barnes turned, taking off at a sprint as Tony stood. Then, Tony shot past Damian, punching him and flipping him onto his back as he passed, then grabbing Barnes, slamming him into the wall. Barnes crushed the hand Tony prepared to blast him with, breaking the repulser, then turned Tony's arm sideways as he fired a rocket, which exploded against a giant piece of machinery. It broke free of the wall, falling in massive pieces around them. Damian scrambled to his feet, rolling out of the way of a massive chunk of steel then standing, looking around. Tony was pinned and he, Steve and Barnes were all separated by pieces of metal and concrete.

"Get out of here!" Steve shouted at Barnes.

Barnes took off running just as Tony broke free, flying over to where he had been and raising his repulser. Before it could fire, Damian landed beside him,smashing it downward, the shot blasting Tony's boot instead, breaking it and cutting off the thruster there. Tony's other one flipped him, crashing him into a wall then through the door Barnes had just gone through. Damian and Steve followed just as Tony used his one working boot to carefully fly himself up to a metal platform above them, numerous platforms leading up the missile silo to the opening in the top.

"Tony!" Damian shouted. "Get down here!"

Tony flew up again, kicking Barnes into a wall then getting ready to blast him as Damian threw Steve. Steve landed in front of Barnes, the blast bouncing off of his shield and hitting Tony, blasting him backward into the wall. Damian used his powers to float himself carefully up to land beside Tony, pinning his hands.

"Enough Tony," Damian said. "He was under Hydra's control. It wasn't really him."

"Get off!" Tony shouted, blasting Damian in the vibranium vest and throwing him.

Then, he flew up at Steve and Barnes just as Steve leapt onto him, dragging him back down. Damian followed after them and Barnes kept going. Just as Damian landed, Tony fired a rocket, blasting the hinge opening the silo's cover. Barnes, who had just reached the top, dropped before he could be crushed as the cover fell. He landed hard and Tony flew up to him. Barnes grabbed a pipe and smashed it into Tony's helmet but when he swung again, Tony grabbed it and ripped it away. Then, he reached out to grab Barnes just as Damian crashed into him, slamming him into the wall.

"Barnes go!" Damian shouted, Barnes beginning to drop from one platform to the next.

Just as he did, Tony slipped out of Damian's grip and grabbed him, throwing him into Steve before flying down and grabbing Barnes. As they passed, Damian and Steve both leapt at Tony, slamming him into the wall and making him drop Barnes and his thrusters quit. They began to fall instantly, Barnes landing hard on one of the lower platforms and the other three crashing down on the floor, Steve and Damian rolling down a ramp toward an opening to the outside and Tony landing at the top.

"This isn't going to change what happened," Steve said.

"I don't care," Tony said. "He killed my mom."

He flew into the air and fell toward Steve, drilling a punch into his jaw before Damian's fist slammed into his mask. Tony flew backward then flipped, shooting forward again. This time, he avoided Damian's punch and blasted him with a repulser, then tackled Steve, pinning him down and beginning to punch him repeatedly. Then, Barnes slammed Steve's shield into Tony's back and knocked him off. Damian stood, the three forming a triangle around Tony. Then, Barnes started, throwing Steve's shield at Tony, who deflected it only for Steve to catch it. Steve and Barnes began to beat Tony, rapidly forcing him onto the defensive, but after a moment, Tony blasted Steve away and Damian stepped forward, delivering an uppercut to Tony's chin, launching him backward before catching Barnes' arm as he tried to follow.

"Leave!" Damian ordered. "We'll handle this."

"Let go of me!" Barnes snapped, punching Damian and making him stagger backward.

Damian shook his head as Barnes charged at Tony only for Damian to tackle him. Barnes instantly flipped him off, punching at him. Damian blocked the punch and Barnes spun, sweeping a punch from Tony aside then slamming his mechanical hand into Tony's face. Damian grabbed Barnes by the back of the shirt and Barnes spun, punching him. Damian shot his own punch back, drilling his left hand into Barnes's stomach and launching him. Then, Tony fired a blast out of his chest into Damian's vest, throwing him away. He flipped, crashing down hard just as Barnes slammed Tony into the wall, beginning to try to rip the arc reactor out. Damian stood just as Tony fired a beam out of his chest again, blasting Barnes' robotic arm into pieces.

Damian sprinted forward, jumping and smashing both feet into Tony, blasting him into the wall then slamming his right first into his mask, cracking it. The moment he did, Tony slammed a punch of his own into Damian's jaw, making him stagger away. Then, he flew at Damian only for Steve to smash his shield into Tony's face, flipping him onto the ground on his back. Tony flipped to his feet instantly only for Steve to slam him into the wall, beginning to beat him mercilessly. Then, suddenly, Tony caught his shield. In the blink of an eye and a blistering series of strikes and counters, Tony beat Steve back away from the wall before finally blasting him, leaving him on the ground beside Barnes.

"He's my friend," Steve said.

"So was I," Tony said.

Then, Damian grabbed the back of Tony's suit before he could punch Steve, hurling him over his shoulder into the wall again. He charged, swinging at Tony only for Tony to duck under it. This time, Damian spun around Tony's repulser blast, stopping and swinging a roundhouse kick into Tony's head, smashing it back against the wall and sending the cracks in his mask shooting over the rest of it. Tony staggered forward then ripped the mask off. Just as he turned toward Damian, Damian's right fist slammed into his abdomen, throwing him backward. Just as Tony landed, Steve scrambled onto him, raising the shield over his head. Tony instinctively shielded his head only for Steve to drive the shield down into the arc reactor on his chest, powering the suit down. Then, Steve helped Barnes up, beginning to walk away.

"That shield doesn't belong to you!" Tony shouted. "You don't deserve it! My father made that shield!"

Steve stopped for a moment, then dropped the shield and continued walking. Damian sighed, walking over and kneeling beside Tony.

"It's over, Tony," Damian said. "Barnes wasn't responsible, Hydra was. And Hydra is gone."

"You don't deserve the title of Avenger," Tony spat.

"Avengers don't murder and call it justice," Damian said. "You were trying to take revenge. That's all there is to it. I may not deserve to be an Avenger, but neither do you."

With that, he stood, turning and also walking away.

* * *

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	15. Chapter 15

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Rescue

Damian leaned against the side of the chopper as it slowly descended.

"Remember," Steve said. "If they catch us-"

"We're dead," Damian said. "I know."

The back hatch opened and he jumped, landing on his feet and looking around. The hangar had exactly six workers and three Navy personnel. He walked calmly toward one of the sailors and he looked up, eyes widening. Then, Damian clubbed him over the head with his right forearm. Just as the other personnel in the room, including the workers, reached for guns, Damian extended his powers, slamming them all into a wall or the ground, incapacitating them all. Steve walked over to stand beside him, nodding.

"You've gotten better," Steve said.

"That's because I have something here that I need to get, and my powers agree," Damian said.

Steve grinned and nodded and they both walked out of the hangar, silently making their way through the hall. Damian was in the lead and stopped outside the first doorway, drawing his knife and checking his reflection.

"Now's not really the time to do your makeup, is it?" Steve asked.

"Oh hush," Damian hissed.

He lowered the knife, slowly inching the blade past the door frame, checking the room in the reflection. Three sailors were in the room, facing away. Damian silently crept into the room, reaching the first one before quickly incapacitating all three. Then, he and Steve left the room and hurried through it to the next door, the control room for the cells. The door slid open and Damian held his hands out as the Sailors spun toward him.

"Sleep," Damian ordered, blue light flickering in all of the sailors' eyes, each of them dropping, unconscious.

Damian sighed, stepping backward and leaning against the door, wiping a trickle of blood from his nose.

"I don't know how she does that," Damian grumbled.

Just then, the communicator in the control panel went off, Ross's voice filling the room, asking for permission to land. Well, demanding was more accurate.

"We've got about three minutes before he calls Stark," Steve said. "Let's go."

Damian nodded, turning and sprinting through the hallway, Steve following. The second room they reached Damian drew his P99 with its suppresser in and shot the camera. Then, he turned left and opened a door leading to an elevator, where he smashed the camera with his hand. He put his pistol away as the elevator began to move, going down three levels. Then, it stopped and Damian pulled open a panel in the wall, ripping out a bundle of wires.

"What was that?" Steve asked.

"That should take down whatever they've got for automated security in here," Damian said. "As well as power for three floors."

"How do you know that?" Steve asked.

"That attractive blonde agent friend of yours told me," Damian grinned, Steve clearing his throat and looking away.

"Uh, right," Steve said.

"Come on," Damian grinned, sticking his knife in between the doors and twisting. "Let's get out of here."

He grabbed half the door with his right hand, pulling the knife out and letting the door close on his fingers while he put the knife away. Then, he and Steve gripped a door each and pulled them apart, slipping through and letting them close. Sam, who was directly across from them, stepped up to his door, grinning. As Steve stepped into the light of the perpetual glow from the cell lights, Damian stepped into the light of Wanda's.

Wanda's entire face lit up as she smiled and Damian rested a hand against the glass. She set hers opposite it but he shook his head and motioned for her to move out of the way. She did so and a moment later the glass of that window, each cell having three windows as an inner wall, exploded inward. Damian gripped the steel bars on the outside, grunting with effort as he pulled before the entire industrial-sized shutter ripped free and he dropped it on the floor. Wanda leapt at him, wrapping her arms around him and he wrapped his around her, spinning. Then, he set her on the floor and kissed her, Wanda kissing him back instantly. After several seconds, he pulled back, glancing at Steve.

"It's about time," Steve said. "Mind getting everyone else out now?"

Damian nodded and looked around.

"Everyone get behind your mattresses."

Everyone did as instructed and Damian walked to the center of the room, holding his arms out. Then, the glass exploded inward at the same time as the shutters all exploded toward Damian, crashing to the floor just short of him. Then, he turned toward Pietro and Wanda, seeing they were the only two wearing collars, the red lights on the collars flashing slowly.

"Power suppressers?" Damian guessed.

Wanda nodded.

Damian took hold of Pietro's on each side and yanked, breaking it free. Pietro massaged his neck a moment before grinning and doing a split second lap around the room. Then, Damian ripped Wanda's off as well. Then, they walked to the elevator, Wanda making it go back up where they found several dozen sailors waiting.

"Pietro," Damian said.

Pietro sped into the room, knocking all of the sailors out instantly then stopping and bowing. Damian stepped into the room and looked around. The hangar was to the right. There were also two other doors that he wasn't sure exactly where they went.

"Any of you guys want your things more than to leave?" Damian asked.

"I want my wings," Sam said.

"Pietro, the door straight ahead," Damian said. "Not sure what's there so don't get caught but see if you can find their things."

"How do you know it's on this level?" Steve asked.

"I don't," Damian said. "But if I know Tony, he has Ross on hold so it's only a matter of time before Ross decides to send JSOC instead."

Just then, Pietro sped back into the room, holding Steve's shield and Sam's wings.

"Alright," Sam smiled, taking the pack and pulling it on. "We're in business."

"Take the shield back," Steve said.

Pietro sighed but nodded, speeding off, returning a minute later. Then, Damian opened the next door and instantly formed a barrier, blocking the wall of bullets that met them.

"Wanda, would you mind?" Damian asked.

Wanda held her hands out and red energy flooded out of them into the next room, all of the sailors dropping unconscious as the energy reached them. Then, once the last of them was out, Damian dropped his shield and they all ran through the hallway to the hangar, climbing on the chopper. Wanda and Damian used their powers to force the roof above them open and Sam piloted them out. Once clear, Damian and Wanda released their hold, allowing the door to close again before looking to Ross's chopper, waving at Ross as Sam turned, flying away. Then, he turned, sitting down beside Wanda, slipping his hand into hers as she leaned on his shoulder, smiling.

"Sorry I took so long," Damian said.

Wanda smiled, shaking her head.

"It's alright," Wanda smiled. "You're here now. That's what matters."

"So, where are we going into hiding?" Sam asked.

"I've heard of this lovely little spot down in the Bahamas," Damian said.

"Oh, Bahamas sounds nice," Wanda said.

"I'm going home," Clint said. "I've got a jet you can take there."

"I'm staying with Clint," Pietro said.

"I think I'll go to Jamaica," Sam said.

"I'm not sure where I'm headed," Steve said. "But wherever it is, it's going to be somewhere low tech."

"Agreed," Damian chuckled before yawning. "Well, goodnight all."

He set his head back, closing his eyes and yawning again before drifting off.

* * *

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	16. Chapter 16

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Summons

Damian leaned back, grinning from ear to ear as he watched the children run along the beach. Relaxing in the Bahamas had seemed like a great idea originally. And so far, he had yet to find a reason to disprove that. The beach was beautiful, everything was free since Wanda convinced the manager of their hotel that they stayed there for free, and the families there on vacation had adorable and easily excited children who ran around the beaches at all hours of the day. Of course, both he and Wanda still trained. Every day they would practice with their powers and Damian would drill Wanda in martial arts. She was getting good at it. And he was finally starting to be able to manipulate minds without too much stress on himself.

"I love this place," Wanda said from beside him.

Damian rolled onto his side, grinning as he inspected her choice of bathing suits for the millionth time. It was red and consisted of very thin string bikini bottoms with the straps reaching high on her hips, and a very small bikini top with no shoulder straps.

"You know, before we came here, I had never considered what you might look like in a bikini. Even while hallucinating. Now, I'll be disappointed when you have to get back into the old outfit."

"True," Wanda smiled. "But, someday, we're going to be needed again."

"They know how to find us," Damian said, rolling onto his back again. "Just build a giant vibranium statue of us and put it on the news."

"Why Vibranium?" Wanda asked.

"Because if I ever have a monument, it is _not_ going to break any time soon," Damian said.

Wanda laughed before nodding. "I'll agree to that."

A small child, maybe five at most ran up to them, his knees covered in sand and his face set into a wide grin, exposing several missing teeth. "Do you wanna see my sand castle?"

"Absolutely," Wanda smiled.

His grin grew even wider and he turned, running off, Wanda following. As she did, Damian closed his eyes, suddenly finding himself standing in a stone hallway, the hallway looking centuries old.

"What the..." Damian looked around, finding a very tall black man with messy hair staring at him with his unsettlingly bright orange eyes, a very large sword on his back. "Hello. Do I know you?"

"No," the man said. "But I know you. You and the Scarlet Witch are the only ones who can help."

"Help what?" Damian asked.

"Asgard needs you two," the man said. "Odin is dying. When he is gone, the Goddess of Death will be free. She will come to Asgard and destroy everything. We need your help to stop that."

"Okay, how do you propose we get there?" Damian asked.

"There is a man on Earth, Doctor Stephen Strange, who can transport you to us," the man said. "Find him."

"Okay," Damian nodded. "Where is he?"

"In New York," the man said. "He'll know you're coming."

Then, Damian opened his eyes on the beach just as Wanda sat down on his lap, straddling him and smiling down at him.

"You looked like you were having a bad dream, so I figured I'd wake you up," Wanda said.

"Thank you," Damian smiled, resting his hands on her hips before sighing. "Unfortunately, we need to go to work now."

"Aw, really?" Wanda asked before sighing. "Fine. Where to?"

"New York first," Damian said. "Then from there to Asgard."

"Oh, are we going to find Thor?" Wanda asked.

"Not exactly," Damian said. "We're going to fight the Goddess of Death. I'm sure Thor will show up, but we have to keep her busy for now."

Wanda nodded and stood, Damian sighing before following her back to the hotel, both changing into their usual clothes, Damian packing up all of his Vibranium gear before they left, heading to the jet they had hidden on the island. Damian got behind the controls and started it up, flying away from the island. He set the autopilot to head to New York and turned to face Wanda.

"Alright," Damian said. "So, now what? We have about four hours of flight time to waste. Any suggestions?"

"Well, we could train," Wanda mused. "Or we could sleep. Or..."

Damian grinned, glancing out the window before sighing.

"Is it happening again?" Wanda asked.

"Yeah," Damian sighed as we watched Hulk zip back and forth in front of the jet.

He didn't hallucinate often anymore. For a while he hadn't at all, but ever since going to the Bahamas, the hallucinations had started up again every couple of months, never lasting more than a few days. Whenever it did, it never went beyond seeing some of the other avengers, or maybe hearing them talking.

"What is it this time?" Wanda asked.

"Hulk's flying around," Damian said. "I'm not going to lie. I kinda miss Hulk and Fury having tea."

Wanda smiled then stood, sitting down in Damian's lap and hugging him. "I'm sure it'll go away. Eventually."

"I doubt it," Damian said. "It's because my brain cooked in the desert. The damage is done. It's probably going to be there forever."

"Maybe the Asgardians can heal you," Wanda suggested.

"Maybe," Damian said.

Wanda sighed, lifting his head and kissing him. Damian kissed her back, sighing as he rested his hands on her hips. She wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling into the kiss. After several minutes, Damian trailed his tongue along her bottom lip, Wanda granting him access instantly, moaning lightly as their tongues met. Damian's hands began to trail up Wanda's back as her own moved up to tangle in his hair. After several minutes, Damian pulled back, gritting his teeth as a heavy panting reached his ears.

"Don't mind me," Tony Stark's voice said.

He risked a glance back and almost instantly turned back around, eyes closed in annoyance. Behind him, a hallucination of Tony was working out on an exercise bike. Damian sighed resting his forehead against Wanda's shoulder.

"Can I have a new brain now?" Damian asked.

Wanda smiled one hand lightly running over his hair as the other slipping into his left.

"Don't worry," Wanda said. "In a couple of days the hallucinations will be gone again."

"i can't wait," Damian said. "I'm sorry. I try to ignore them...it's just..."

"It's not possible," Wanda smiled. "I know."

Damian sighed, sitting up and staring out the window.

"I think I'm going to try and sleep," Damian said.

"Okay," Wanda nodded, smiling. "I'll be in in a little bit, okay?"

Damian nodded, standing and walking to the bedroom the jet had in the back. He lay down, closing his eyes and felt sleep taking him within seconds.

Damian grit his teeth as the knife bit into his flesh again. He wouldn't scream. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction. For a moment, he held out. Then, the knife was removed. The saw was next. Damian arched off the table, numerous doctors holding him down, his scream echoing through the base. The saw shredded his arm, tearing at his flesh until it his bone, vibrations rattling down his arm, spreading the pain through his body. Still, the saw tore at him. Then, finally, it was over. They pulled it out and Damian blinked the spots out of his eyes. As he did, his head lulled to the side and his eyes widened, staring at the massive set of bolt cutters they were holding.

"No no no no!" Damian shouted, thrashing, struggling to get away, his right arm doing nothing.

The scientists slammed him back down, the bolt cutters scraping against his shredded, raw flesh. He screamed, pulling away only for the bolt cutters to squeeze. He screamed louder still as the jaws of the bolt cutter clamped down on the bone. Then, there was an almighty snap and he went silent and stiff, unable to even scream for a moment. Finally, his voice returned, his entire body beginning to thrash. Suddenly, an even greater pain entered. He screamed again, body thrashing to the side and the power spiked impossibly, a wet tearing sound filling his ears. Then, he fell limp, the pain finally leveling out. It still hurt more than he could describe, but it was slowly beginning to fade. He looked over at the scientists as they walked toward him holding a metal arm. He sighed but just as he was beginning to close his eyes, the arm was slammed into his mangled shoulder and white hot liquid pain shot through his body. He screamed, feeling a pressure building up inside of him as he did. The pressure cut his voice off, strangling him. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't scream. He had to get it out. He needed to get it out.

He pushed, but it didn't move. He pushed harder. Still nothing. He couldn't breathe. Pain was shooting through his body, coursing through his veins with every beat of his heart. He shoved. The room around him began to tear itself apart, an alarm screaming into existence. The scientists all exploded into pink mist. A scream reached his ears over the alarm, though he couldn't understand it. He struggled to focus on it. It was saying something. He knew that. He knew the voice too, but he couldn't place it.

"DAMIAN! ! !"

Damian's eyes flew open and he gasped for breath, looking around. The room was shredded, gaping holes having been torn into the side of the jet, causing it to depressurize. He looked to the side, seeing Wanda lying against the wall, a massive pipe pinning her and blood running down her face. He shouted in fear, holding his hand out, but nothing happened. He swore, leaping out of bed and grabbing the pipe, shouting in pain as a deafening hiss filled the air, the flesh on his left palm beginning to cook. He lifted it, turning and hurling it away. It crashed into the wall and the wall exploded outward, Wanda and Damian being sucked out through the hole instantly. Wanda caught Damian as they flew, both glowing red and slowly hovering to the ground just as the jet crashed to the ground and exploded. Wanda set Damian down and Damian pushing himself up, left hand against his stomach as he inspected her head. It was only a small cut, just enough to bleed, but not enough to be serious. He sighed in relief before tears began to run down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry," Damian sobbed. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I forgot to take my pills and...and I..."

"It's alright," Wanda said, wiping his tears away and smiling. "I'm alright, Damian. I'm fine."

"But I could have killed you!" Damian sobbed.

Wanda sighed, hugging him, wiping the blood off of her face. "Damian, you didn't hurt me. You've never hurt me. You never will. I can defend myself. I promise."

Damian sighed, nodding and pushing himself up, wiping the blood off his face and looking around.

"Which way now?" Damian asked.

"New York is that way," Wanda said. "Not sure how far, but that's the way we'll have to go."

Damian nodded and hugged her, Wanda hugging him back. Then, they turned and began to walk.

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	17. Chapter 17

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

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Hela

Damian sighed as he sat on the bench, groaning, feet throbbing painfully and legs burning. Walking almost fifty miles was extremely painful, shockingly. Beside him, Wanda wasn't in much better shape, groaning as she leaned back, eyes closed. They had finally reached New York, but had no idea where to find Doctor Strange. They had asked at a hospital, but they said that they didn't know any doctor named Strange.

"How do we go about finding one person in a city of millions?" Damian asked.

"I have no idea," Wanda said.

Damian opened his mouth to speak just as he felt himself beginning to fall. A moment later, a flash of orange light shot up past his eyes before he was sitting in a bright red leather chair, Wanda seated in a matching one beside him, looking just as bewildered as Damian felt. He looked up in time to see a glowing orange disk shrink out of existence, then looked around at the library they were in, which was about a hundred feet across with the circular wall completely covered with a book shelf and with books flying around on their own, rearranging themselves. The room was also several hundred feet tall. Damian looked down from the ceiling and stared at the man sitting in a leather chair of his own, sipping at a cup of tea and smiling pleasantly, a red cape hovering beside him, looking like it should be around someone's shoulders yet empty. The man had a blue tunic and pants with black leather boots, short messy black hair with grey on the sides and a black goatee like Tony Stark's.

"You two certainly took your time," Doctor Strange said.

"We...uh...had a complication along the way," Damian said.

"I noticed," Doctor Strange nodded. "Anyway, here, have a drink. It'll make your feet feel better."

A pair of cups of tea appeared in front of them and Damian and Wanda both drank it without question. By the time they were finished, the pain in their legs and feet was completely gone.

"So, you can do magic, right?" Damian asked, a flicker of hope entering his mind, even as he watched the Hulk giving Doctor Strange a wet willy.

"That's right," Doctor Strange nodded.

"Can you heal my brain?" Damian asked. "I was in the desert for a year and now I have periods of hallucinations."

"I see," Doctor Strange said. "I'm sorry. I can't heal you. Your hallucinations are from brain damage. Even with my magic, I have yet to find a way to heal that. I actually have something similar. Nerve damage in my hands. I can keep them working by using my magic to steady them, but I can't repair the damage. Not really."

Damian nodded.

"Now, you'd better change into something more suiting for a battle with the Goddess of Death," Doctor Strange said. "You won't have long once you get there."

Damian nodded, quickly pulling his vibranium gear on before nodding to Doctor Strange, who looked to Wanda.

"Maybe you'd better stay here," Doctor Strange said.

"No," Wanda said. "Where Damian goes, I go."

"She'll be okay," Damian said. "Send us."

Doctor Strange nodded, a portal opening below them and they fell through it, landing on their feet in the middle of what looked like a hospital room. Instantly, several people spun toward them, weapons drawn and aimed at them, all the weapons being some form of bladed weapon, whether a spear, sword, axe, or something similar. Damian was glad there were no guns.

"We're friendly," Damian said. "Heimdall asked us to come here to help defend Asgard."

"Defend us from what?" one of the Asgardians asked.

"Hela," Damian said. "Goddess of Death."

"Never heard of her," the Asgardian said.

"Ask Heimdall," Damian said.

"He's been banished," the Asgardian said.

"So un-banish him," Damian said. "Where's Odin?"

"What's it to you?" the Asgardian asked.

"Fine," Damian sighed. "Is Thor here? I know Thor. We're Avengers with him."

"Why should we tell you anything?" the Asgardian demanded.

"So he's not here," Damian sighed. "Jesus Christ. How do we prove we're not enemies?"

"You could start by explaining how you got here," the Asgardian said.

"A warlock by the name of Doctor Strange," Damian said.

"True magic is impossible," the Asgardian said.

"Apparently not," Damian said. "Look, I don't want to fight. Asgard's in danger and I want to help protect it. I'll agree to whatever rules you insist on. Escorts, no knife, hand cuffs. Whatever. Just let me help you."

"I'll vouch for him," a voice said from behind the Asgardians, who turned, parting.

Behind them stood an Asian-looking Asgardian wearing black armor and a black cape with black hair falling just past his shoulders and a black beard tied into a short braid. He had a spherical mace hanging from his hip that had small holes covering the head of it, likely for retractable spikes. He strode forward, stopping in front of Damian and extended a hand.

"My name is Hogun," the man said. "I'll be escorting you. Also, I'll take that knife of yours. At least until this Hela arrives."

Damian nodded, shaking his hand while holding out the knife with his other. "I'm going to give you a warning, as a show of good faith, my right arm has a retractible, but not removable, knife blade inside of it."

"I see," Hogun nodded. "If you extend it, I'll kill you."

Damian nodded. "I have a question, if you don't mind."

"Not at all," Hogun said.

"Do you happen to have a way to repair brain damage?" Damian asked. "Like the damage caused by heat stroke, for example."

"We do," Hogun nodded. "Why?"

"Because I have a small amount and I'm getting tired of having hallucination episodes," Damian said, smiling. "Would it be possible for you to heal me?"

"Sure," Hogun nodded, turning to a doctor nearby, who was holding a short sword identical to pretty much every other one, a double-edged sword with a gold fuller reaching three quarters of the way up the sides of the blade and the cross guard bowed. "Make it quick."

The doctor nodded, lowering her sword. "Lay down on the table." She indicated a table with a pair of oddly shaped metal poles that bowed outward then back in above the table. Damian lay down and glowing orange light gathered above him, forming a silhouette with a slightly duller orange in the head. "There's the damage. Lay still. This might burn a little."

Suddenly, a burning sensation started in his scalp, rapidly digging its way deeper, growing more and more painful by the second. Then, it was over, and the silhouette's head was glowing as brightly as the rest. The silhouette faded and Damian blinked in surprise.

"That's it?" Damian asked.

"That's it," the doctor nodded. "We're far more advanced than your species. Injuries as minor as that are easy."

Damian stood, smiling when he didn't feel any side effects. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," the doctor said. "Now, if you're telling the truth about being here to defend us, make sure you do your job."

"I will," Damian nodded. "Hogun, I need to get to wherever people enter or exit Asgard."

"That would be the Bifrost," Hogun said. "It's this way." Hogun turned, leading him and Wanda out of the building, only to stop as an alarm sounded. He swore instantly, holding Damian's knife out to him. "Looks like someone's already arrived. Let's go."

Damian nodded and they sprinted through the streets, finding themselves at a courtyard where dozens of soldiers and numerous flying longboats with gold wing-like objects on the back had gathered. They shoved their way to the front of the group, stopping as they saw a woman wearing a black bodysuit with green highlights and a black cape with long black hair standing at the end of a bridge. She turned to them as Damian extended the blade in his right hand, narrowing his eyes. That had to be Hela.

"It's come to my attention that you don't know who I am," Hela said, looking out at the welcoming committee. "I am Hela. Odin's first born, commander of the legions of Asgard, rightful heir to the throne, and the Goddess of Death."

As one, the soldiers behind Damian readied themselves, pointing their spears at her. She quirked an eyebrow, resting her hands on her hips.

"My father is dead," Hela said. "As are the princes. Your welcome. We were once the seat of absolute power in the cosmos. Our supremacy was unchallenged. Yet Odin stopped at nine realms. Our destiny is to rule over all others. And I am here to restore that power." She began to raise her arms dramatically. "Kneel before me and rise into the ranks of my great conquest."

"Whoever you are, whatever you've done, surrender now, or we will show you no mercy," Hogun said.

"However I am? Did you listen to a word I said?"

"This is your last warning!" Hogun said.

"I thought you'd be happy to see me," Hela said.

Hogun swung his mace, the head dropping, connected by a chain, and spikes extended from the holes in the head. Hela's expression turned from saddened to exasperated to annoyed. Damian swallowed. This was it. He was about to have to fight the Goddess of Death. He had to be out of his mind.

"Fine," Hela sighed, running he hands backward over her scalp, her hair shrinking into her head as a headdress of sorts with spikes that stuck out to the sides then bent upward growing out of it formed.

Hogun began forward, spinning his flail and Hela held out a hand, a long, jagged, black sword shooting out of her palm at him, only for Hogun to knock it aside. She fired another and he knocked that aside too. She began to launch a third but he had reached her and knocking it away instantly before swinging at her. His flail hit one of the spikes with a metallic ring, turning her head to the side before she push-kicked him, launching him backward through a wall. Then, the Asgardians began to charge, the deafening echo of battlecries accompanying them. Daniel charged with them, speeding away from them thanks to his Vibranium shoes. He reached her in moments and she extended a sword, slashing at him only for him to flip, blocking it with his knife then slash her with his right arm's blade. She shouted in annoyance just as the first Asgardians reached her. However, unlike Damian, they were slaughtered. Hela slashed several of them before leaping into the air, flipping and firing several swords at the longboats, which exploded on contact, the longboats crashing to the ground. Then, Hela spun, firing several swords into the ranks of the Asgardians, killing them before landing, spinning and slashing several before spinning, forming a second sword and blocking both of Damian's blades. She shoved them away, hurling both swords before slamming her fist into his face, launching him backward.

Damian bounced off of his chest plate once before flipping and landing on his feet as Hela fired a sword at him, turning away instantly and firing more swords into the ranks of Asgardians. Damian crossed his blades in front of himself and the sword slammed into them hard, shattering on impact but not before sending its full force vibrating through his bones. He grit his teeth, groaning as Hela stopped, turning toward him and staring at him. He sighed, rolling his right shoulder.

"Damn, that hurt," Damian sighed. "What's wrong Hela? I thought you were the Goddess of Death. Can't you kill a regular old human?"

"That armor, and your arm and knife, what are they?" Hela asked.

"Vibranium," Damian said. "I was a little that they wouldn't hold up against you, but apparently you're too weak to break them."

"Oh am I?" Hela smirked. "Let's see about that, shall we?"

She shot forward, growing a sword and beginning to slash at him rapidly, twisting and contorting as she did, keeping him from being able to target her for a counterattack. He backpedalled rapidly, deflecting the strikes as best he could. Finally, he deflected a slash just right so that Hela stumbled and he buried the knife in her abdomen, twisting and earning a pained shout, followed by an elbow to the right eye. He flipped over once mid-flight, then crashed down beside Wanda, who shouted in surprise and fear. A deafening _crack_ filled the air and Damian looked up, seeing a sword's tip hovering about an inch from his face, having been stopped by one of Wanda's force fields, but having penetrated it by about a foot. Damian stood, cracking his neck as the sword disintegrated. Hela then gripped the knife with both hands, snapping the blade of the knife off and tossing the pieces to the force field. Wanda dropped the force field and Damian picked up the pieces, putting them back in the knife's sheath and then securing the knife's hilt with the straps attached to the sheath, sighing.

"Alright," Damian said. "You're stronger than your swords. Good to know."

He started forward, Wanda forming a force field all the way around them. Then, a massive spike made of some form of stone erupted out of the ground at him. Damian shouted in surprise holding his right hand out. The stone smashed upon impact with the hand and Damian sighed. He sucked to the side as a smaller spike sprouted from the first, stabbing at him only to be smashed as easily as the first. Then, Damian charged, dodging out of the way of a pair of swords before throwing a punch at Hela. She spun out of the way and Damian turned, slamming his left elbow into the side of her head. She grunted in pain, stumbling backward and he turned again, slamming his right fist into her gut, throwing her a few feet. She flipped, landing on her feet and scooping an Asgardian sword off the ground, shooting forward and slashing at him. He extended his own blade, blocking it and being sent skidding backward from the force of the strike. Then, he leapt into the air, falling toward her.

She sent a sword at him and he knocked it aside before stabbing at her. She moved to block it with the Asgardian sword, only for his blade to smash through it, driving itself into her left shoulder before easily slicing down her front and out her right hip. Then, her right arm swung a sword around at him only for him to flip over her, slashing across the back of the shoulders as he landed. She staggered forward, spinning and catching a punch. She grinned and Damian grit his teeth, feeling his arm, and subsequently his bones, beginning to vibrate more and more rapidly. He quickly snapped a kick up at her and she blocked it with her free arm, only for him to slam his own free hand into her jaw, freeing his right arm. He extended the blade and lunged, slashing Hela from the front of her abdomen around her right side before she spun, driving a sword into his chest, the sword breaking against his armer but blasting him backward through Wanda's force field to where he crashed into Wanda, the rest of the force field fading.

"I'll admit, you could probably outfight almost any Asgardian here," Hela said. "You're definitely not a normal human. Your strength, speed, and reactions are all higher than that of your species. But without that arm and armor of yours, you'd be left defenseless. Wouldn't you?"

"Not really," Damian said, swinging an arm, several Asgardian swords glowing blue and streaking through the air, stabbing her in the side, earning a shout of pain and rage. "I've still got a couple tricks up my sleeve."

Hela roared in rage, a massive sword blade shooting out of her hands at him and Wanda. He stepped in front of Wanda, holding his right arm in front of his chest. A moment later, the sword's blade stabbed through the arm and slammed into the chest plate, launching him backward into Wanda, then both away from the bridge, over several buildings. Once they were out of sight, Wanda caught them with her powers, lowering them to the ground and Damian sighed, staring at his damaged but functional arm.

"Never thought I'd see the day," Damian sighed. "Come on. We should get out of here while she thinks we're unconscious."

Wanda nodded and they ducked into a side alley. "The rest of the soldiers retreated while you were fighting with as many weapons as they could carry. I figured they'd come in handy."

"Good call," Damian nodded. "We need to find Heimdall."

Wanda nodded and the two of them hurried through the back alleys toward the edge of town.

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	18. Chapter 18

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Hidden

Damian sprinted through the trees, skidding to a stop beside a thick clump of them, ducking behind them and looking back as Wanda slid into cover behind him. Further away in the trees, a swarm of undead that glowed with green energy slowly gained on them. They weren't inherently strong. In fact, they were kind of pathetic. But there were a lot. He had spent a good ten minutes fighting the things with Wanda, but no matter how many they destroyed, more arrived.

"Damn these things are annoying," Damian growled, extending his right hand's blade again. "How much further can we run?"

Wanda turned to look, seeing a cliff barely fifty meters away through the trees. "Nowhere. There's a cliff."

"Okay," Damian nodded. "Then I guess we'll see just how many of these things there are."

He stepped out of hiding and one of the creatures roared, the others joining in instantly and charging. Damian swung an arm, sending a wall of debris and a tree at them, crushing a handful, but the rest sure enough, more began to pour out of the trees off to either side. Damian stepped forward, blocking a slash and kicking the creature's leg, breaking it before slashing its skull in half. He retracted the blade in time to catch a sword and slammed a punch kick into the creature, smashing it. he flipped the sword's grip to his left hand and backhanded a creature, noting the way his arm creaked slightly on impact. Vibranium or not, it was still a damaged machine. He extended the blade again and began to hack and slash his way through the creatures, spinning and slashing anything nearby. As he fought, Wanda sent chunks of debris or chunks of trees hurtling past him, but they still seemed to make no progress.

Damian ducked under a slash, stabbing the creature then spinning away and only barely avoiding losing his arm. He slashed the creature that attacked him in time for a sword to crash into his chest plate, knocking him onto his back as the creatures all lunged. Then, one creature flew into the group, smashing all of the ones around him before a woman wearing a silver cuirass over a red leather shirt, black pants, shin guards, gauntlets, and holding a silver kite shield in her left hand with a sword in her right appeared, slashing several more before looking at him with a smirk.

"Need a hand?" she asked.

"Oh my God I could kiss you right now," Damian said, pushing himself up.

"I doubt your girlfriend would appreciate that," she said.

"Probably not," Damian agreed. "I'm Damian."

"Thor's told me about you," she nodded. "I'm Sif."

"It's an honor to meet you," Damian said, slamming his left elbow into a creature's face and spinning, slashing two of them, then swinging his left arm upward and sending the creatures' swords into more creatures.

Sif stepped up beside him and together they tore the creatures apart. However, for a time, there still seemed to be no end to them. Then, finally, just as the creatures had forced their three targets into a tight circle, they turned and fled into the trees. Damian sighed, dropping to his knees, retracting the blade and leaning forward, supporting himself on the ground using his hands.

"So many goddamn zombies," Damian growled. "Where do we go?"

"Follow me," Sif said. "I know where there's someplace we can rest where we'll be safe."

Damian nodded and pushed himself up, wiping some sweat from his brow before following Sif through the woods, Wanda just behind him. After a short time, they left the trees behind for a thin mountain trail. Then from there, they reached a massive stone door. Sif knelt in front of it, trailing her hand over the ground for a moment before the symbols and runes in the walls glowed and the door swung open. Instantly, they found themselves surrounded by the surviving Asgardian soldiers.

"Lady Sif!" one of them said, everyone lowering their weapons. "You've returned!"

"Yes," Sif nodded. "How many are here?"

"Not enough," Hogun said, stepping into view. "Heimdall is gathering more. It is good to see you again Sif."

"Hogun!" Sif gasped, rushing forward and hugging him. "What about the others?"

"Fandral's dead," Hogun said. "But I was able to save Volstagg, thanks to our friend keeping Hela busy. He's a truly powerful warrior."

"Thank you," Damian said. "Are there any more soldiers?"

"We're it," Hogun said. "Volstagg won't wake up for a long time yet. He won't be able to help us from here on."

"Take me to him," Damian said. "I might know someone that can help."

Hogun nodded and led the three of them through the palace-like building they were in to a room with rows upon rows of beds for wounded, though currently only a heavyset man with red hair and beard and a pair of bandaged stab wounds was occupying one of the beds. Damian walked over to him, inspecting the wounds.

"It's a miracle he's alive," Damian said. "Strange, can you hear me? You've been keeping watch, right?"

"I hear you," Strange's voice said. "What's going on?"

"Someone here's wounded," Damian said. "Two stab wounds from a jagged blade, one barely missed the heart."

"Understood," Strange said. "Hold on."

Then, Volstagg dropped through the bed in a flash of orange light.

"There, he's at a hospital," Strange said.

"Your hospitals won't be able to help him!" Sif said.

"You have a better idea?" Damian asked. "He was bleeding out. If he didn't go to a hospital, he'd have died anyway. At least this way there's a chance."

Sif regarded him a moment before nodding, sighing. "Your arm's wounded."

"My arm's a machine," Damian said, lifting it so she could see through the hole through his arm. "I'll be fine. Though, my knife's broken."

"Let me see," Sif said.

Damian held out the pieces of his knife and she stared at it in surprise.

"Where did you get this?" she asked, taking the knife before staring at his arm and armor. "It's all the same metal, isn't it?"

"Yes," Damian said. "We call it Vibranium."

"It's a rare metal that even rivals the metal that our greatest weapons are made of," Sif said.

"I broke one of the swords your soldiers used," Damian said.

"Not that," Sif snorted. "That's really nothing special. Just made harder and stronger by nanotechnology. No, I'm talking about things like Thor's hammer Mjolnir."

"Oh that," Damian said. "Makes sense, then. So...can you fix it?"

"I have neither the skill, nor the equipment to work this metal," Sif said. "You'd have to take it to wherever you received it."

"Then, in the mean time, can I use one of your peoples' swords?"

"Of course," Sif nodded. "You can have one as well, if you need it."

Wanda nodded, smiling. "Thank you."

Sif nodded and turned, leading them to a room where an armory was set up. Damian and Wanda both grabbed a sword instantly, as well as Wanda grabbing a shield. Then, Damian turned to Sif.

"How long can we expect to be able to hide here?" Damian asked.

"Not long," Sif said. "Heimdall is rescuing who he can. Once he has gathered as many as can be found, we're leaving. We'll be heading for the Bifrost to evacuate."

"Hela will have the bridge guarded," Damian said. "And once we get there and begin to fight the zombies there, more will come from the other end, trapping us. Is there another way?"

"Heimdall got to his sword by climbing the cliff, but you can't expect all of these people to make that climb," Sif said.

"No," Damian said. "You're right. We'll have to just punch our way through the blockade."

"I agree," Wanda nodded. "It shouldn't be too much trouble. And our powers can hold whoever follows at bay."

"Good," Sif nodded. "Hogun, Heimdall, and I will help you hold them back after we've broken through."

"And if we meet Hela, I alone will keep her busy," Damian said. "I've proven I can fight against her once already thanks to my Vibranium. I'm the best choice for keeping as many as possible alive."

"But now she knows she can get through your Vibranium too," Wanda said.

"I'll be careful," Damian said. "I promise."

Wanda didn't look too sure, but after a moment she nodded.

"Heimdall should be returning soon," Sif said. "I'm going to go and meet him. If you want to sleep, there are some rooms down the corridor to the right."

Damian and Wanda nodded and Sif left, Damian and Wanda silently agreeing to sleep. They followed the corridor and found that almost all of the rooms were unused. They weren't exceptionally decorated. Each had only a small bed barely fit for a soldier to use. However, Damian would have assumed at least a few people would want to sleep in a bed. But it seemed that everyone wanted to keep the safety in numbers. As well as where the soldiers were. Damian lay down on the bed the moment they chose one, pulling out his pills and taking them so he wouldn't dream. As soon as he set the bottle aside, Wanda lay down on top of him, slipping her hands into his and smiling.

"It feels like it's been weeks since we rested," Wanda said.

"True," Damian smiled. "I miss the Bahamas. And that bikini."

Wanda blushed but smiled. "Pervert."

Damian chuckled, slipping his hands out of hers to wrap them around her. She smiled, reaching up and kissing him. He kissed her back, one hand moving to the back of her head. After a moment, she pulled back, laying her head back down and closing her eyes. He smiled, closing his own, and after a few minutes, both were asleep.

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	19. Chapter 19

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Escape

Damian stood beside Heimdall, Wanda to his side and Sif on Wanda's other side. To Heimdall's other side stood Hogun. The five of them watched as massive black spikes exploded through the walls of their hideout, surrounding the door, which began to tip outward. They crashed down on a ledge across the canyon from the doorway and a massive cloud of dust kicked up. Hela and Skurge, the coward who had joined her to save his own hide, walked across it, only to find the hideout empty. Damian grinned as Heimdall let the image fade.

"We have to keep moving!" Heimdall shouted to the people fleeing. "Go to the Bifrost!"

"Me and Wanda will get up front," Damian said. "See you all in a bit."

Sif and Heimdall nodded and Damian and Wanda flew off using their telekinesis. They landed at the front of the line, keeping their eyes moving, scanning everywhere for any sign of monsters. It was quiet. Too quiet. They made it to the bridge with absolutely no problems. But still they kept moving. After what seemed like no time at all, they stopped as a fog banks that had been drifting across the bridge cleared, revealing a small army of the zombie creatures and one gigantic wolf the size of a jumbo jet.

Damian swore. "Can we handle that?"

"Maybe," Wanda said. "Though I seriously doubt it."

The wolf howled and charged, its feet cracking the bridge as it pounded toward them. Damian raised a hand, summoning all the power he had, only to let it fade as bullets suddenly began to slam into the bridge in front of the wolf, halting its advance before slamming into the wolf. They looked up so see a ship with a metal ring wrapping around in front of it drop out of the clouds off to the side, a woman wearing white and gold armor with a blue cape standing behind a minigun, firing at the wolf.

"How did she see it through the clouds?" Damian blinked.

"Really?" Wanda smirked. " _That's_ your first thought?"

"Yeah so?" Damian asked.

"Behind us!" a voice somewhere behind them shouted.

Damian turned to look, but then turned back to the front. "Sif and the others can handle them. We need to deal with this."

Just as he said it, the bullets stopped and the wolf began to charge again, seemingly unfazed by the bullet wounds in its hide. Damian began to gather his power again, Wanda doing the same. Heimdall suddenly stepped up beside them, sword in hand.

"You're supposed to be at the back," Damian said.

"I'm going to open the Bifrost the moment I reach it," Heimdall said. "Then everyone can retreat through."

"Fair enough," Damian said. "How's it work? Just in case."

"Stab the sword into the pedestal, twist forty five degrees counterclockwise," Heimdall said. "That should put it somewhere near New York."

"Should?" Damian asked.

"It can go to any realm," Heimdall said. "Without decades of practice, or at least my eyes, it can be a little inaccurate. I'm curious, though. Why not have this Doctor Strange simply teleport everyone to safety as he did with Volstagg?"

"He said we had to use the Bifrost," Damian shrugged. "Not sure why."

"Magicians," Heimdall sighed. "Always working on one scheme or another."

Suddenly, the ship that had been firing at the wolf earlier swung around, someone dropping out of it. Damian looked up at it, squinting, only for his jaw to drop open.

"Banner!" Damian shouted, pointing.

Wanda looked as well, also staring in shock, until Banner collided with the bridge, the wolf skidding to a stop to stare at the body that had bounced in front of it and now lay motionless.

"What...he...Banner?" Damian called out. "You alright?"

Banner didn't answer. The wolf nudged it with his nose before snarling and continuing, passing the body and continuing after its original targets. Then, just as Damian and Wanda stepped forward, a wall of blue and red energy forming in front of them and the wolf mere feet away, the wolf suddenly crashed to the ground, skidding backward as the wall faded. Then, it swung sideways, flipping over the mass of green flesh and muscle and anger on the bridge. Hulk hurled the wolf back along the bridge and roared angrily before huffing.

"Stupid dog!" Hulk said, Damian blinking twice before looking to Wanda.

"I think I'm hallucinating again," Daniel said.

"If you mean that you heard Hulk speak, then you're not," Wanda said. "I heard it too."

The wolf suddenly roared, both it and the Hulk charging, the wolf grabbing the Hulk over most of the torso, only for the Hulk to begin smashing a fist into the side of the wolf's head and flipping both of them off the bridge. Suddenly, the ship began to fall, several zombies suddenly on it and tearing into it. The ship spun as it fell, making it nearly impossible for the girl inside of it to know when to jump out. Damian's eyes dropped back to the bridge as the zombies finally reached them. He knocked several slashes aside, splitting the zombies attacking open before blasting several off of the bridge with his mind. Beside him, Wanda was fighting much the same way he was.

Damian Switched the sword to his left hand, slamming a kick into one of the creatures, grabbing it by the head and spinning, hurling it into more of them. He blocked a slash from another and slammed his Vibranium fist into them, blasting them off the bridge. He flicked his arm out to the side, sending a few flying over the edge of the waterfall below them with Telekinesis, then deflected a slash to the side with his sword, splitting the creature up the front. Almost instantly, a swarm of them charged, a sword slamming into Damian's chest plate and making him stumble backward. He tripped over a pair of legs, finding himself beside Heimdall, who had fallen after both his legs had been slashed. A creature leapt at them only to be blasted away, revealing a creature made out of stone, wearing gladiator armor and holding a club that looked like it might be some kind of high-tech nightstick. Behind the stone creature was a purple slug-like creature with two robotic legs and two robotic arms ending in large blades.

"Hey, I'm Korg, that's Miek," the stone one introduced in a surprisingly high-pitched yet male voice. "We're gonna jump on that spaceship and get outa here. Wanna come?"

Damian let his head roll to the side, toward a fog bank that Korg had indicated when he said spaceship. A figure emerged from the fog with a pair of curled horns on his head and his arms spread wide.

"Your savior is here!" Loki shouted, the spaceship coming into view, a long metal ship with a ramp and open door where Loki was standing.

On the ship behind Loki were numerous creatures of all shapes and sizes, all also dressed like gladiators. The ship floated over to the bridge and Loki walked off of it to the bridge, smiling widely.

"Did you miss me?" Loki asked as people began to flood past him to the ship. "Everyone, on that ship now!"

Damian pushed himself up, pulling Heimdall up as well and then looking around. Wanda was fighting a group of creatures a short distance away and he blasted them all away from her, allowing her to back up to them.

"We need to get tot he other side," Damian said. "All in agreement _not_ to use the Bifrost?"

Wanda and Heimdall nodded and Damian knelt, placing his hands on the ground, Wanda doing the same. Heimdall readied himself to fight as more creatures charged, Korg, Miek, and Loki all heading for the other end where Sif and Hogun were fighting the creatures with the rest of the military. In hindsight, Damian supposed having the military on the front might have been a better plan since it would have allowed them to break through easier. Damian felt his power reach its max and shoved with all his might, Wanda doing the same beside him. Before them, the Bifrost Bridge all but exploded apart, blasting creatures into pieces and keeping whatever was left from reaching them. Heimdall turned, Wanda hurling him over the civilians to the front lines.

"Welcome home," Heimdall said, landing beside Loki. "I saw you coming."

"Of course you did," Loki snorted.

Damian and Wanda landed beside them a moment later and Damian stepped up beside Sif, who had a scratch in her cheek and on her shoulder but who had faired better than Hogun, who was favoring his left leg, which had a sword stuck through the bone, fortunately missing the major arteries and veins.

"Hogun, get to the ship," Damian said. "We'll handle things from here."

"I don't take orders from you," Hogun said.

"Oh just do it Hogun, you're no use to us wounded," Loki said.

"I don't take orders from you either," Hogun said.

"Hogun, don't be stubborn," Heimdall said. "It's only this side now. We'll handle it. Rest."

Hogun sighed and nodded, turning and limping back toward the crowd, a pair of civilians helping him through the crowd to the ship. Damian turned back to the zombies as they drew near. More gladiators arrived at the same time as they all began to fight. Korg's club apparently was also a blaster, given the way it launched a glowing ball of plasma that blasted through the creatures rapidly. Aside from him, Miek was surprisingly ferocious, spinning and shredding anything he fought. Damian blocked a slash and snapped the creature's arm before slashing it. Another took its place only for Damian to lean back, placing his hand on the ground as he slammed a kick into the creature's head, launching it backward into more. He stood, swiping his hand and blasting several off the bridge. Several creatures suddenly slipped through their defensive line, catching a gladiator with three humanoid heads and killing him quickly, only for Asgard's soldiers to make equally quick work of them. Damian jumped, spinning and kicking a creature into one who was about to stab Sif as her sword and shield were both busy blocking a pair of blades. Both creatures tumbled off of the bridge and Sif killed the two she was already engaging and glanced at him smirking and nodding.

"I guess we're even," Sif said as she split a creature up the middle.

"Yup," Damian said, using his right hand's blade to decapitate a creature.

Suddenly, Miek, who had ventured too far away from the group, suddenly found himself on the ground, his robotic legs spinning away. Damian blasted the creatures away from him and pulled him back to the others just as a massive bolt of lightning blasted the palace. He sighed in relief. Thor was dealing with Hela. That meant he didn't need to. He passed Miek back to the soldiers behind him and they took him, retreating as a lightning bolt sped toward the bridge, creatures piling up to reach it. Damian grinned as the lightning bolt hit, blasting the creatures out of the way and allowing Thor to land. He was on the far end of the creatures, and just as they turned to charge back at Thor, lightning began to fly off of the bridge rapidly, destroying the creatures.

"Alright," Damian said, grinning. "Shall we continue?"

"Lets," a new voice said as the woman in white from the ship stepped up beside him.

He saw Sif's awed expression and turned to her, noting the sword in her hand, which had a two foot blue blade. "And who exactly are you?"

"Just call me Valkyrie," she said.

"I see," Damian said. "Like the elite Asgardian warriors, Valkyrie?"

"Only surviving member," she said. "Hela killed them all."

"Well in that case," Damian smirked. "Welcome to the party."

Valkyrie grinned and Damian crouched his right foot sliding back as he placed his hands on the ground, grinning.

"Want to make it a competition?" Damian asked.

"Highest kill?" Valkyrie asked.

"That's the one," Damian smirked.

"I'm in," Valkyrie said, sliding one foot back slightly.

"Don't forget about me," Wanda said, taking the same position as Damian as Sif adopted Valkyrie's.

"Mind if I join?" Sif asked.

"Not at all," Damian said. "Highest body count at the end wins. Ready...go!"

They all took off sprinting, the zombies having reached halfway between them and Thor, charging back toward them now as well. Heimdall, Loki, and Korg all stayed with the rest of the soldiers as the other four charged. Damian's Vibranium shoes granted him the advantage in speed, and he hurled his sword, impaling one creature before blasting into the line of them, right arm first, grabbing his sword on the way and beginning to spin and slash, using his right arm's blade as well as his vibranium pads to smash them rapidly. Then, Valkyrie and Sif were at his sides, shredding their way through the creatures almost as fast as Damian was. Then, creatures began to glow red and fly away from him before he could hit them, Damian rolling his eyes and slamming his hands into the ground, a wave of his telekinetic energy shooting out and blasting a group of creatures. Then, he pushed off with his feet and right hand, shooting forward and blasting into the creatures again, slashing two the moment he stopped before spinning and backhanding one into a group of them with his right hand, all of them falling off the bridge. He spun the other way, catching a blade and removed the arm holding it then drove it back into the creature's head. Then, he turned as Loki stepped past him, blocking a slash that was about to hit him then using a pair of daggers to make short work of the creature holding it. Damian grinned, turning back to the front and continuing. After a few more short minutes, the last of the creatures between them and Thor dropped and Damian sighed, smiling as Thor walked toward them. His hair had been cut short, though it actually looked good on him, and his right eye had been gouged out, probably by Hela.

"You're late," Thor said, looking at Loki.

"You're missing an eye," Loki countered.

"This isn't over," Valkyrie said, walking past both of them toward Hela, who stood further along the bridge.

Damian joined them, along with Sif, Wanda retreating back to the others, knowing she couldn't hope to fight Hela. Damian extended his right arm's blade again and they all stood shoulder to shoulder.

"I think we should disband the Revengers," Thor said, looking to Valkyrie.

"How original," Damian snorted.

"Hit her with a lightning blast," Loki said.

"I just hit her with the biggest lightning blast in the history of lightning, it did nothing," Thor said.

"We just need to hold her off until everyone's onboard," Valkyrie said.

"It won't end there," Thor said. "The longer she's on Asgard, the more powerful she grows. She'll hunt us down. We need to stop her here and now."

"So what do we do?" Valkyrie asked.

"What if she wasn't on Asgard?" Damian asked.

"What do you mean?" Thor asked.

"I could take her over the edge," Damian said. "It wouldn't kill her, but it would buy time for the evacuation. Everyone could hide."

"No," Loki said. "It won't work. We need something else. Something to get her away from Asgard without making it impossible to keep fighting her."

"Asgard's not a place, it's a people," Thor said, turning to Loki, understanding in his face. "Loki, this was never about stopping Ragnarok. It was about causing Ragnarok. Surtur's crown, the vault! It's the only way."

"Bold move, Brother," Loki said. "Even for me."

Loki turned, running back along the bridge, probably trying to find a way around Hela. Thor turned to the others.

"Shall we?" Thor asked.

"After you," Valkyrie said.

Thor suddenly lit up with lightning, leaping toward Hela, who fired two swords at him, both shattering on contact. Thor began to slash at her with a pair of swords he had taken from the creatures he had destroyed but Hela avoided everything. Finally, Thor leapt at her but she dropped to her back, allowing him to pass. The moment she stood, Damian reached her, slashing rapidly, Hela easily evading his strikes this time, since Damian wasn't nearly as well rested as their last fight.

"You're mistaken if you think you'll defeat me this time," Hela said, a sword growing out of her hand.

She drove it at Damian but before it could hit him, Sif's shield slammed into his shoulder, shoving him aside before Sif and Valkyrie began to attack Hela together, Hela deflecting the blades with ease. Finally, she slashed at Sif, who raised her shield to block it, being hurled backward into Valkyrie when the sword hit. Thor leapt forward, blasting Hela onto her back and stabbing at her, only for her to roll aside. Just as Thor's sword hit the bridge, Hela's fist crashed down and the bridge lurched. Screams began to echo from the civilians and Damian's gut dropped. She had used the massive spikes she could grow to create a path for her creatures that were on the other end of the bridge.

He looked back to Hela as Hela launched two swords at Thor, Thor deflecting the first but the second launched him backward when his bounced off his chest. Damian sprinted at Hela again, ducking under a sword and slamming his right fist into her gut, followed by his left into her jaw. She staggered to the side and he stepped forward, his clasped hands clubbing her in the back of the head.

She staggered forward then spun, a sword sparking across his chest plate and throwing him, leaving a deep scratch in the armor, but having stopped just short of him. He crashed to the ground beside Sif as Valkyrie sprinted at Hela. He pushed himself up and glanced at Sif, stopping when he saw her shield had been sliced cleanly by the strike she blocked. He gently rolled her onto her back and she groaned, holding a hand to the deep gash across her abdomen.

"Shit, hang on!" He said, lifting her and grabbing her sword with his free hand before sprinting back along the bridge to Wanda, who gasped when she saw Sif. "Take her!" Damian said, handing Sif to Wanda. "Get her inside!"

Wanda nodded, turning and shoving her way through the ranks of civilians who were fleeing onto the ship. Damian grabbed a pair of swords from a couple of Asgardian soldiers who had been killed by the creatures and slid them into the back of his chest plate before looking back toward Hela, who Thor and Valkyrie were still fighting. They were losing quickly, but the last of the civilians were on the ship, leaving only the soldiers. He turned, pushing through them to the front, slashing several creatures with Sif's sword before driving it into the bridge, a wave of telekinetic energy throwing all of the creatures backward.

"Get on the ship!" Damian shouted. "Heimdall, Sif's wounded."

Heimdall nodded instantly, turning and running onto the ship with the remaining military. The moment they did, the ship began to leave, only for a massive black spike to grow out of the ground, sticking to the ship, holding it in place. Damian blasted it, but when another grew, he was too distracted by fending off the creatures to stop them. Creatures began to pass him, scrambling up the spike toward the ship. Damian blocked a slash and swiped his hand downward in the direction of the spike, knocking the creatures off of it before using his right arm to block a blade and slashed the creature. He blasted several off them back just as Skurge leapt out of the ship with a pair of M16A2s, the guns set to full auto and blasting the creatures around the spike, as well as breaking the spike apart. Damian smiled, returning to fending off as many of the creatures in front of himself as he could. He heard Skurge shout out to Hela, heard the shooting slowly growing further away. But then he heard the telltale click of an empty gun failing to do its job. He blasted the creatures backward again and spun in time to see Skurge smash the M16s, now held by their barrels like clubs, into a creature, killing it just before a sword impaled him through the chest and he dropped. Damian grit his teeth, spinning and slashing Sif's sword, a wave of telekinetic energy blasting several creatures as the ship pulled away. Then, he turned, charging at Hela, slashing several swords out of the air as she advanced on him.

"Hela enough!" Thor called out, Damian slowing to a stop beside Valkyrie, helping her up and handing her sword to her. "You want Asgard, it's yours."

"Whatever game you're playing, it won't work," Hela said. "You can't defeat me."

Damian noticed what Thor had. The way the air suddenly felt too warm. The way the air was suddenly too dry, even though they were over the water.

"No I know," Thor said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at the palace as it began to glow cherry red. "But he can."

Suddenly, the palace exploded, a massive flaming creature made of lava with a pair of massive horns and a huge, cherry-red broadsword rising out of it, roaring.

"No!" Hela gasped.

Damian leapt forward, smashing his Vibranium fist into the base of her neck, slamming her into the ground before leaping away, a massive bolt of lightning blasting her and shattering a section of the bridge, dropping her into the water below. Across the gap from them, Valkyrie nodded, holding her side.

"Tremble before me Asgard!" the massive lava giant, obviously Surtur, thundered. "I am your reckoning!"

He began to swing his sword, demolishing the city around himself, tearing the ground apart.

"I'm glad he's not the one we're fighting," Damian said.

"Agreed," Thor nodded as Valkyrie landed beside them.

"We're sure this was the only way?" Valkyrie asked.

"Yes," Thor nodded. "He destroys Asgard, he destroys Hela, so that our people can live. But we need to let him finish the job, otherwise..."

He trailed off as a giant, shouting, green mass flew through the air above them, crashing into Surtur's head.

"Hulk stop, you moron!" Thor shouted.

Surtur reached up, grabbing Hulk off of his head and tossing him away, Hulk crashing back down on the bridge in front of them.

"Hulk stop!" Thor shouted. "Just for once in your life, don't smash!"

Hulk looked back and forth between them and Surtur. "But, big monster!"

"Let's go!" Valkyrie said.

"Fine!" Hulk huffed, running toward them, grabbing all three in a hug and leaping off of the bridge.

Damian squeezed his eyes shut as Hulk flew all the way to the ship before clearing his ark and landing on the floor inside, setting them down. Wanda threw her arms around Damian instantly Damian hugging her back happily. Then, just as he turned to watch Surtur work, a massive stone spike shot out of the water and drove itself into his chest. Then, more stone spikes grew out of the water, Hela standing atop one of them. She began to fire more and more at him, almost all of them finding their mark, but Surtur didn't seem to mind much. He swung his sword around so the blade was downward and raised it over his head.

"I am Asgard's doom!" Surtur thundered.

Hela shot another spike into him before Surtur laughed, driving his sword downward, the blade hitting Hela directly before driving itself into the ground. As Surtur shoved his sword deeper and deeper into the ground, a massive wall of flames shot off of it in all directions, scorching everything.

"The damage is not too bad," Korg said, as they all watched through an observation window as Asgard was destroyed. "As long as the foundations are still strong, we can rebuild this place. It will become a haven for all peoples and aliens of the universe." Just as he finished, a massive explosion lit the world before them, bleaching pure white instantly as Asgard scattered into space as rubble. "Now those foundations are gone. Sorry."

"What have I done?" Thor asked.

"You've saved us from extinction," Heimdall said, stepping up beside them.

"Heimdall," Damian said. "Is she-"

"Stable, for now," Heimdall said. "She'll need to be taken somewhere for real medical treatment soon, though."

Damian nodded as Thor turned to them.

"Who?" Thor asked, confused.

"Lady Sif," Damian said, Thor's eyes widening.

"Where is she?" Thor all but demanded.

Heimdall motioned for him to follow and he, Damian, and Wanda followed him away from the others, through the ship to the medical wing. Hogun was lying in the bed by the door, the blade having been removed from his leg, but when they walked in, he stood, using a pair of swords as makeshift crutches and leaving. Damian and Wanda stopped a short distance away as Thor rushed to Sif's side, kneeling and taking her hand, Sif's eyes fluttering open only to widen when she saw his empty eyesocket.

"Thor, your eye..." Sif croaked.

"It's nothing," Thor smiled. "Kind of like a family tradition. Are you alright?"

"Are you kidding? I'll be up and about in no time." She smiled, staring at their clasped hands, then at the bandages that were already starting to stain through. "Did everyone make it out?"

"Yes," Thor nodded. "Everyone's safe."

Sif smiled and nodded, sighing and letting her head tip back into the pillow. "I glad. And I assume Hela's dead."

"Yes," Thor nodded, voice cracking.

"Oh don't cry over me," Sif smiled. "I'm not dying. I'm just tired."

Thor nodded, forcing a smile. From where they stood, Damian could see the blood beginning to stain the sheets of the bed. She didn't have long.

"Strange," Damian said quietly enough that Thor and Sif wouldn't hear. "Someone here's wounded and bleeding out. Maybe a few minutes left at most. Can you help?"

"I think so, yes," Doctor Strange responded, a tiny orange seal appearing beside Damian's head so they could communicate. "Let me know when you're ready for me to transport them."

"I will," Damian said.

Thor sniffed, Sif reaching up gently and wiping the tears off his cheek. She smiled, shaking her head.

"You crybaby," Sif smiled. "I'm not going anywhere."

Thor nodded before swallowing hard. "How long?"

"How long what?" Sif asked.

"How long have you waited for me?" Thor asked.

"Thor, it's alright," Sif smiled. "You don't have to do this. I don't regret a thing."

"I'm sorry," Thor said. "I'm sorry that I ignored how you felt, and I'm sorry I made you wait."

Sif smiled sadly, shaking her head again. "I didn't care that I had to wait. I loved you for everything you are. Even the oblivious parts."

Thor smiled before reaching down, kissing Sif. She kissed him back, sighing as she did. After a couple seconds, Thor pulled back, swallowing.

"I'm going to stay with you until you're on your feet again," Thor said.

"Actually, you're not," Damian said, walking into view and over to Sif, placing her sword in her hand. "Strange, go ahead."

Then, Sif dropped into the bed in an orange flash. Thor was on his feet in an instant, pinning Damian against the wall, slowly crushing his throat.

"What have you done with her!?" Thor said.

"Doctor...Strange...took her!" Damian choked out. "He...can...save her!"

Thor held him there another moment before dropping him. "Doctor Strange, like, the magician?"

"Yeah, him," Damian said, massaging his neck as he stood. "He took Volstagg too."

"And Fandral?" Thor asked.

"I'm sorry," Damian said. "Fandral's gone."

Thor nodded and sighed, holding a hand to his face. "I'm going to go and find something to cover this."

He walked out of the room and Damian returned to Wanda, the two of them returning to the observation window where Valkyrie was still staring out at the stars.

"What will you do now that Hela's dead?" Damian asked.

"I'm going to stay with my people," Valkyrie said. "It's a Valkyrie's place to protect Asgard. And I've neglected that duty long enough. What about you?"

"We're going to stick around until Earth," Damian said. "Then we're heading back to our vacation."

"I see," Valkyrie smiled. "You've earned it. You might want to get that arm and chest plate fixed first, though."

"I completely agree," Damian nodded. "And my knife."

"Oh yeah," Valkyrie chuckled. "Forgot about that."

"It's about time for the new king to start telling us what to do," Damian said. "You coming?"

"Wouldn't miss it," Valkyrie smiled, the three of them walking to the command bridge and finding Hulk, Heimdall, and Korg all present, Korg holding Miek, who looked absolutely miserable without his legs, all present.

Just as they reached the one and only chair, which was reserved for the commander of the ship, the civilians began to part and bow, Damian turning to Thor, seeing a metal eyepatch. Thor reached them and stopped.

"Your throne," Valkyrie said, indicating the chair.

"Hm, it's not as fancy as I remember," Thor smirked, Damian shaking his head in amusement. "This suits me better."

Thor sat down and stared silently at the stars for a moment, suddenly seeming lost.

"So, King of Asgard," Heimdall said, breaking him out of his trance. "Where to?"

"I..." Thor trailed off, seeming to be unsure.

"Shall we go and find the Queen-to-be?" Damian asked, Thor smiling just a tiny bit.

"Earth it is," Thor nodded.

Damian smiled as Heimdall took the controls, steering the ship toward Earth. The rest of the civilians stood, waiting. Damian glanced at them and leaned closer to Thor.

"You should tell your people they don't have to stand here all day," Damian said. "They're all waiting for orders, or a speech."

Thor glanced back and cleared his throat. "Um, I'm not really good at public speaking. Ceremonies and all of that were my father's strong point. I'm more of the smashing bad guys with my...well, with my fists, I suppose. Anyway, uh, It'll be about...how long?"

"Two days," Heimdall said.

"About two days until we reach Earth," Thor said. "Once we're there, we'll find a place to start over. Until then, just...do whatever on the ship. Um...yeah."

The civilians all looked around at one another for several seconds before turning and spreading out into the ship. Thor sighed, walking over to the window as Damian and Wanda went to a room made for officers, one with a window allowing them to overlook the stars above the ship. They lay on the bed once Damian had removed his armor, staring up at the stars in silence. After a few minutes, Wanda rolled over on top of him, sitting up and straddling his hips, smiling down at him.

"So, you're officially strong enough to fight the Goddess of Death and live to tell about it," Wanda smiled.

"Not if I went one more round with her," Damian snorted, hands resting on Wanda's hips, thumbs lightly brushing over her leather pants. "I can't wait until you're in a bikini again."

Wanda smirked, shaking her head before reaching up and slipping her coat off and tossing it aside, before her shirt followed, leaving her in a lacy black bra. Damian swallowed hard before sitting up, capturing her lips with his own. She kissed him back, her hands reaching to the bottom of his shirt, pulling it off swiftly before wrapping her arms around him. Damian's left arm began to slid up her back, then around to her chest as it slid back down. She moaned softly as his hand began to knead and massage her breast, his right hand remaining where his was on the small of her back so that the jagged pieces of his forearm's hole wouldn't cut her. Damian broke then kiss, moving down to suckle at the pulse point in her neck, making her moan louder, tilting her head back. Suddenly, she gasped harshly and he jerked back, looking up at her to see her staring upward. He looked up and his mouth dropped open. Above them and off to the side, a massive ship was hovering. Damian instantly had a very bad feeling about it and Wanda seemed to as well since she was off his lap in an instant, pulling her shirt and jacket back on, Damian quickly slipping back into his armor and grabbing his two swords. Wanda grabbed her own and they opened the door only to stare at a glowing orange seal. A pair of hands shot out, grabbing each of their hands and yanking them through before Doctor Strange allowed the portal to close.

"What the hell?" Damian asked.

"Someone very evil had found you," Doctor Strange said.

"Exactly!" Damian said. "Why the hell did you bring us back? And why only us?"

"You need your arm and armor fixed, and Wanda needs to get armor," Doctor Strange said. "Thor and the others can handle it for now. Besides, that person is coming here. Now. Head to Wakanda and get fixed up, then head to the Avengers building and summon the others. We need to prepare, quickly."

"How long do we have?" Damian asked.

"Not very," Doctor Strange said. "I'll get you to Wakanda. After that, you're on your own. Oh, and she's coming with you."

They turned, seeing Sif standing off to the side, fully healed and not looking happy. But, she walked over and stopped beside them and a moment later they all dropped through an orange portal, finding themselves in Wakanda's lab a moment later, T'Challa staring at them in surprise and confusion with a younger girl who looked a lot like him looking even more confused.

"What have you done to that arm?" T'Challa demanded a moment later when he saw Damian's arm.

"Yeah," Damian said. "It's a long story. Can you fix it?"

"You are quite expensive, my friend," T'Challa said.

"I brought a piece offering," Damian said, holding out his swords.

T'Challa picked on up, not looking impressed until Damian swung the one he was still holding, the blade lighting up and the girl beside T'Challa squealing in delight.

"I accept!" she shouted, snatching both swords away and detaching Damian's arm before anyone could react. "It'll be better then ever!"

She dashed off to get to work and Damian sighed, using his powers to take his chest plate off, T'Challa taking it to the girl for repairs as well. Damian sighed, sitting in a nearby chair to watch and wait.

* * *

Leave a review. Probably the last chapter until Infinity Wars comes out, so I made it a long one. Let me know what you think.


	20. Chapter 20

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

First Wave

Damian rolled out of bed, sitting on the edge and sighing. It was still early, barely four in the morning. He and Wanda had been in Wakanda for two days, waiting for Damian's arm to be repaired. They had sent out a call for the Avengers to gather. However, only Steve Rogers and Natasha had answered, and that only to say that they were trying to find Vision, since he had the Mind stone.

"We'll find them," Wanda said, wrapping her arms around him from behind, Damian sighing as her skin pressed against his own. "Once your arm is finished today, we'll go and get Vision and the others, then we'll put out the call again."

"We don't know if Thor and the others are alive," Damian said. "We don't know when Thanos will get here. We don't even know if his servants are already here. How do we stop him if we can't even get our best fighters to answer their phones?"

"By fighting harder," Wanda said. "We _will_ win this fight." She turned his head toward her, forcing him to look at her. "And once we do, we're going to get married and retire."

Damian smiled, nodding and kissing her. After several seconds, he pulled away and stood, pulling his underwear and some pants on, walking out onto their room's balcony, his one hand resting on the piece of mechanical arm that remained attached to his right shoulder. He stared out at Wakanda. He knew. There was no doubt in his mind that the final battle would be fought here. It looked so peaceful that he almost thought maybe he could forget about the Infinity Stones, and Thanos, and his dreams. Dreams of defeat. Of his friends, those he loved, turning to ash. Yes, he almost _could_ forget it all. But then he would feel his powers swell, as though reminding him that they existed, and he would remember.

A knock on the door stirred him from his thoughts. He pulled the door open and found T'Challa's right hand general waiting.

"You arm is ready," the general said. "My King has asked me to escort you to the lab."

Damian nodded, grabbing a shirt, seeing Wanda had already gotten dressed. They followed the general to T'Challa and his sister, who began to babble about upgrades instantly. Damian chuckled.

"Slow down sister," T'Challa said. "Not everyone speaks gibberish as fluently as you."

"You are funny," she said, narrowing her eyes at him but grinning and starting to attach Damian's arm. "Okay, your arm is harder and stronger than before, as is its blade. Also, I reverse engineered the swords you gave me and upgraded your arm blade the same way. It now generates kinetic energy when you swing it, so it can cut through things easier."

"Thank you," Damian smiled.

"I also took the liberty of making each of you a sword," T'Challa's sister continued.

Damian smiled, accepting the weapons T'Challa was holding out, handing one to Wanda, both being shaped exactly like the Asgardian ones Damian had given her, except that both were completely silver.

"Now," she continued. "I have to finish upgrading our soldiers' weapons, so once i finish with this, I must get to work."

"Thank you," Damian repeated as T'Challa's sister finished reattaching his arm.

"You're welcome," she smiled, turning to walk away.

"Where's my armor?" Damian asked.

"There's a watch on the table," she said. "One for each of you. Just press the dial when you get into trouble." And then, she stepped onto an elevator, heading up several levels to a higher point in the lab.

Damian picked up the watches, both styled like Rolexes, and one more feminine than the other. He put his on, pressing the dial and watching as a form-fitting black bodysuit spread out of it, covering everything but his head and right arm. It had armor plates over his various muscle groups, but felt no heavier than his clothes. It reminded him of T'Challa's armor, but without the helmet or claws. Wanda's was similar. A black body suit covering everything but her head, and a scarlet jacket over it, identical to her own, except for being made of vibranium weave fabric.

"They're amazing," Damian breathed. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," T'Challa's sister shouted down to them.

Just then, T'Challa's mother ran into the room with a tablet. "Shuri! Come down here! T'Challa, Damian, you need to see this."

She held out the tablet and Damian looked, seeing it was video footage of a massive, ring-shaped ship hovering over New York City. Just as Shuri arrived, the feed switched to a video of Iron Man fighting a pair of aliens with dark grey skin, one thin with an abnormally long oval head and the other build like the Hulk but less toned. Both wore black clothing, the larger one having armor, and both looked excessively dangerous just by the video. The smaller one was using magic, going by what Damian had seen from Doctor Strange, but his was a dark grey, and barely visible. The larger one, however, had a massive, jagged, bulky scythe.

"Who are they?" Damian asked.

"Probably Thanos's scouts," T'Challa said. "Or his generals."

"I certainly hope they're generals," Damian said as Ironman got sent flying through a building.

"Why?" Wanda asked.

"Because if normal scouts are that strong, I'd be terrified of Thanos's generals," Damian said. "Let alone Thanos himself."

T'Challa and Wanda both nodded. Damian looked around then to T'Challa.

"Do you have a fast ship?" Damian asked.

"Yes," T'Challa said. "This way. Shuri, hurry up with those upgrades."

Shuri nodded and Damian and Wanda followed T'Challa to a landing pad, the two sprinting onto a ship and finding a Wakandan soldier dressed like T'Challa's general waiting.

"I'll be flying you," she said.

"Yes, okay, great, just go!" he said.

She took off, leaving the fake mountain quickly as Wanda closed her eyes before pointing.

"Go that way, fast," Wanda said.

The ship sped through the air, rapidly leaving Africa behind. The ship was headed toward Scotland, and as they flew, Damian got the feeling they were already late. Finally, Wanda told the pilot to stop and opened the back of the ship, leaping out. Damian shouted in surprise and leapt after her, watching her use her powers to control her descent. He began to do the same, both looking around below them, seeing a golden beam of energy blasting through a building. They both shot toward the source, Damian speeding ahead as they saw two different aliens, both also wearing black armor and with grey skin, attacking a heavily wounded Vision. Damian pressed the dial on his watch before landing over in front of Vision in time to punch one of the aliens, a male with a hood over his head an a double-ended spear, in the face, launching him backward into his female companion. She had a double-ended staff with a glowing blue blade on one end, and an opening on the other, one of which fired a blast of energy the moment it hit the ground, blasting a crater into it.

Wanda landed beside Vision instantly, her hands glowing red instantly, his wounds sealing quickly, though still too slowly. Damian glanced back at her, then forward as the male leapt at him. He raised his hands, forming a barrier, only for the spear to blast through it instantly. He smashed the blade sideways with his right arm, letting the barrier fall and shoving with his left hand, sending out a blast that launched the male through a building. The female stood, firing a blast at them, only for him to block it again.

"Faster Wanda!" Damian said, swiping his right arm, the ground below the female exploding into the air, hurling her. "These two are really annoying!"

Just then, the male landed beside him, slashing, and Damian leapt backward. He spun, stabbing at Wanda, who spun, knocking it away with her sword before her other hand lit up and she hurling him. The woman landed in front of Damian as he extended his arm blade, drawing his own sword. She began to swipe at him with both ends of her staff, and he began to deflect them, staying out of the way of her weapon. Judging by the gaping holes still in Vision, his Vibranium armor definitely wouldn't hold up against it. Finally, he managed to knock the spear into the air and stepped forward to stab his arm blade at the alien, only for its foot to snap up, crashing into him and launching him backward.

He bounced off the ground, flipping to his feet just as Wanda sent the female flying. The male leapt at Damian and he retracted his arm blade, slamming both hands into the ground, blue energy and chunks of stone exploding out of the ground in front of Damian, blasting the male backward and into the air. Just as he flipped and landed, Steve stepped out of an alleyway beside him, punching him in the jaw, then grabbing his staff and spinning, slamming him into the wall. The woman hurled her spear at him and he dropped the male's, catching the female's, then ducking under the male's spear. Damian hurled himself forward with his powers, crashing into the male and slamming him into the ground, plowing him along it for a ways, then flipping and landing on his feet. The male shot out of the shallow trench he had formed, stabbing at Damian before Damian could react, only for Natasha to step between them with the staff Steve had had a moment before, knocking the spear aside and spinning it, spinning and driving the bladed end into the alien's abdomen. He coughed, blood flooding down his chin, before gritting his teeth and reaching for her head. Damian stepped forward, slashing the male's throat with his arm blade before blasting him backward, making him crash to the ground a distance away from them, the female crashing down beside him, Falcon now standing beside Wanda, who was again healing Vision.

"Thanks," Damian said, as Natasha and Steve stepped up beside him.

"You all have no idea what's coming," the female said, holding the male in her arms as he bled out.

"Surrender," Damian said. "We'll kill you if you make us."

"You'll never get the chance again," she snarled.

Then, blue light enveloped both aliens, lifting them back to the ring hovering above them, which took off into the clouds rapidly. Damian hurried over to Vision and Wanda as Wanda finished with the last wound, Vision still weak from having been wounded.

"Can you stand?" Steve asked.

"Yes," Vision said as Wanda helped him up. "Thank you Captain."

"Let's get you on the jet," Steve said.

He and the others who had been in hiding with him led them to the jet they had kept after the Sokovia Accords incident and Falcon took the controls, taking off.

"Where to Cap?" Falcon asked.

"Home," Steve said.

Damian glanced up at him from the floor, which he had been studying as he replayed the fight in his head. As Falcon turned the jet toward America, Natasha stepped up to the window to watch, Steve watching her for several seconds before turning and walking away from the window, sitting down to chat. Damian sighed, taking a breath before beginning to fill Steve in on all the things he and Wanda had been dealing with recently.

* * *

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	21. Chapter 21

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

Preparations

"I seem to remember your signature on those accords, Colonel," a voice that Damian was hoping to never hear again was saying as they walked toward the door.

"That's right," Rhodey said. "And I think I've payed for that."

"You have second thoughts?" Defense Secretary Ross asked.

"Not anymore," Rhodey said, just as they opened the door and walked in.

The hologram Ross's face was priceless. A mixture of shock, rage, and disgust.

"Mister Secretary," Steve greeted him.

"You've got some nerve, I'll give you that," Ross said. walking over to stop in front of them.

"You could use some of that right now," Natasha said.

"The world's on fire," Ross said. "And you think all's forgiven?"

"I'm not looking for forgiveness," Steve said. "And I'm long past asking permission. Earth just lost its best defender. So we're here to fight. And if you want to stand in our way, we'll fight you too."

"Oh, please stand in our way," Damian muttered under his breath, Wanda smirking, the two of them supporting Vision, since he was understandably still weak.

"Arrest them," Ross growled, looking to Rhodey.

"All over it," Rhodey said, ending the call, the hologram of Ross, along with the long table to the left with several other people, who were taking no part in the conversation, all disappearing.

"Wow," Damian said. "He wants you alone to arrest all of us. You must have really stepped up your game since we left."

"Apparently he forgot who he was dealing with," Rhodey said. "Well, since I just earned myself a court martial, it's great to see all of you."

Steve smiled, shaking his hand and Natasha walked forward, giving him a hug.

"You guys...really look like crap," Rhodey said.

"What are you talking about?" Damian asked. "Cap's beard looks great. Kinda liked you better as a ginger, though, Natasha."

"Just worry about your ginger girlfriend," Natasha smirked. "No flirting with me,"

"Oh please," Damian snorted. "I got tired of your flirting from the hallucination of you that I got stuck with after the desert. Well, in between times of the Hulk and Colonel Fury having tea parties, that is."

Everyone laughed.

"Kinda miss it, to be honest," Damian said. "Made situations like this much more manageable."

"We'll be fine," Wanda said. "Come on. Vision looks like he'd like to sit down. Plus I should see if I can get him to heal anymore."

"Let's head to the living room," Rhodey said.

"I can take him, if you want," another voice said from off to the side, Damian and Wanda's heads snapping around to see Banner standing on the other side of the room, having entered through that door. "Yeah, I'm back."

Natasha stared at him for a moment before finding her voice. "Hi Bruce."

"Hey Nat," Bruce said.

"This is awkward," Sam muttered.

"Bruce," Damian said. "Thor and the others..."

"Thanos destroyed the ship," Bruce said. "Heimdall was able to send me away before the end, but...they're gone. Thor, Loki, Heimdall, Valkyrie, Hogun. Everyone's gone."

Damian nodded. He turned, carrying Vision to the living room with Wanda and setting him on the couch, allowing her to scan hi before sighing, shaking her head.

"I ca't help any more than I have," Wanda said.

Finally, Sam walked in, forming a hologram of the two creatures they had fought.

"So we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Sam asked.

"And they can clearly find us," Wanda said.

"We need all hands on deck," Banner said. "Where's Clint?"

"After the whole Accords deal he and Scott took a...deal," Natasha said. "Must have been tough on their families."

"Who's Scott?" Banner asked.

"Antman," Steve said.

"There's an Antman _and_ a Spiderman?" Bruce asked. "Okay, look. Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. And he is not gonna stop until he...he gets...Vision's stone."

"Well then we have to protect it," Natasha said.

"No, we have to destroy it," Vision said. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its...nature. But also its composition. I think if it were exposed to a very powerful energy signature, something very similar to its own signature, perhaps, its molecular integrity could fail." He looked to Wanda and Damian.

"Yeah and you with it," Wanda said. "We're not killing you."

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to ensure Thanos can't get it," Vision said.

"That's too high a price," Wanda said.

"I'll destroy the stone," Damian said, Wanda staring at him in disbelief, everyone else looking toward him as well. "However, I agree with Wanda, we're not going to kill you. And we might not have to."

"What do you mean?" Steve asked.

"Wakanda," Damian said. "If anyone can get that stone out of your head, it's T'Challa sister, Shuri. Besides, when Thanos comes for the stone, we'll have to assume he'll bring his full army, and we'll need help fighting them off."

"That's not a bad plan," Steve said. "It's Vision's choice. Do it now, or try to get that thing out of your head first?"

"If there is a chance to do this without losing a life, we should do it that way," Vision said. "However, if they arrive before we can finish, and we cannot hold them back long enough to finish, I need one of you two there to destroy it regardless."

"We should have the better fighter on the front lines," Rhodey said. "I'm sorry Wanda, but you'll have to destroy the Mind Stone ourself, and Vision with it, if it comes to it."

Wanda remained silent and Damian sighed.

"Wanda, don't worry about it," Damian said. "There's no way I'm letting anything through to interrupt."

Wanda nodded slowly. "Okay. I'll do it."

Damian nodded and they all headed out to the jet, climbing on while Damian called T'Challa, filling him in on the plan and what they needed.

"I will make sure everything is ready," T'Challa said. "And I will gather all the forces we can. You should call for anyone you can think of as well."

"We have," Damian said. "We'll all be there in a couple hours."

T'Challa promised to be ready and ended the call and Damian sat down, remaining silent for a while. He glanced up at Steve, who was watching Natasha as she copiloted the jet, Steve standing behind the pilot and copilot seats, Sam flying. Damian sighed. He kind of wanted to help Steve out with his obvious feelings for Natasha. But then he'd feel bad for Bruce, who had been with Natasha briefly before Hulk had decided to leave.

"How many stones can we realistically expect him to have when he gets here?" Damian asked.

"We should be prepared for him to have five of the six," Steve said. "He have to assume that Vision's will be the last one."

"So we need to assume we can't beat him," Damian said. "Good. Banner, can you still turn into Hulk?"

"No," Banner said. "I tried in New York when Tony was fighting two of Thanos's generals, but he wouldn't come out. He actually refused."

"He's afraid," Damian said. "I'll see if I can talk him into it once we get there, but we might need the Hulk Buster armor for you instead."

Banner nodded, and everyone fell silent again, settling in for the rest of the flight.

* * *

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	22. Chapter 22

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters.

* * *

War

Damian rested a hand on Steve's shoulder as they were following T'Challa and Shuri to the lab. Steve stopped, the two letting the others get ahead of them before saying anything.

"We're not going to win this fight," Damian said. "Even _if_ we destroy the Mind Stone, Thanos will most likely have the Time Stone by then. So he can just reverse time and stop us from destroying it. And even _if_ we manage to keep him from doing that, and the Mind Stone is destroyed, Thanos will be too powerful for us to kill. He'll kill us all."

"That's a risk we have to take," Steve said.

"I'm not saying we shouldn't do this," Damian said. "I'm not afraid to die, and I know that we have to fight Thanos, win or lose. All I'm saying it...you might want to tell Natasha how you feel before the fight. Because after...there might not be time."

Steve watched him for a moment before nodding. "You might be right. But this isn't the time or the place for this discussion."

"Place, no," Damian agreed. "But it might be the only time. Just, think about what I said."

Steve sighed, nodding. Then, he turned, the two of them walking to the lab.

"There are over two trillion neurons," Shuri was saying. "A single misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. It will take time, Brother."

"How long?" Steve asked, standing beside T'Challa now.

"As long as you can give me," Shuri said.

Just then, T'Challa's general's bracelet beeped and she pushed one of the beads into the palm of her hand, a hologram of the planet forming with a sort of target over Africa.

"Something's entered the atmosphere," she said.

A moment later, a massive, flaming object shrouded in smoke collided with a domed force field over Wakanda, exploding. Then, five more crashed down outside of Wakanda, all around the same area.

"Five ships," Damian said. "Probably multiple hundred troops to a ship, I'd guess."

"Thousands of enemies," T'Challa said.

"It's too late," Vision said, pushing himself up weakly. "We need to destroy the stone now."

"Vision get your ass back on the table," Natasha said, turning toward the door.

"Wanda, as soon as that stone's out of his head, blow it to hell," Steve said.

"I wil," Wanda nodded.

"Evacuate the city," T'Challa said, walking toward the door with his guards and general. "Engage all defenses. And get this man a shield."

They all hurried to the armory, one of T'Challa's guards leading them. As they reached the armory, a troop brought Steve a pair of small shields, barely bigger around than his forearms, both having a piece that extended over the hand with a sharpened end.

"Those are what they call shields?" Damian asked, staring at the tiny objects.

"Beggars can't be choosers," Steve said.

"Yeah well, I prefer to choose," Damian said, looking around the room. "And I choose to not get anything."

He looked back to Steve, who glanced to the side at Natasha, who was singing a pair of Vibranium Eskrima Sticks experimentally, both of the sticks having glowing blue ends. "What have you t to lose?"

Steve stared at him for a moment before turning and walking over to Natasha, staring at the weapons. "So...this is it...huh?"

"Yeah," Natasha nodded. "Kind of feels like we've been working up to this all this time, doesn't it?"

"A little," Steve nodded. "I've been doing a lot of thinking recently. And...I realized I have a lot of regrets."

"Oh yeah?" Natasha asked. "Me too."

"Anything Earth shattering?" Steve asked.

"Not really, I guess," Natasha said. "Although, I think that's the other side's job."

"True," Steve smiled, though it faded quickly. "I regret not settling down while I had the time."

"Really?" Natasha asked. "Kind of hard to picture you as anything besides a hero."

"True," Steve said. "But still. Seeing Clint and his family...just brought up a lot of old memories. I never got to have that. Maybe I could have with Peggy, but...then I went to sleep. And when I woke up, she had had a family. And then, after that, I kind of...gave up on trying to find love, you know? I buried myself in the Avengers, and in training, and working for Shield. And then stopping shield. Whenever you _did_ manage to force me to try, no one ever really understood."

"No shared life experience?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah," Steve said, staring at the floor. "I swore off relationships for so long. That's probably why when I realized that I actually _had_ feelings for someone, I got scared."

"What, Sharon Carter?" Natasha asked. "You didn't seem that afraid."

"No, not her," Steve said. "She was...kind of like me trying to pretend I didn't care about the person I had actually fallen for."

"Who then?" Natasha asked.

Steve was silent for a long while, opening his mouth to speak several times but closing it each time. "I...I tried so hard to deny it. I tried to pretend it wasn't true. I lied to myself and said I was just imagining things. But the more time I spent with her, the harder it was to ignore. She's saved my ass more times than I can count, honestly. Eventually, I stopped denying it, and I finally thought I had found the courage to tell her the truth. But then, she got with my friend."

Natasha stared at him silently, eyes somehow both wide with surprise and narrowed in suspicion.

"I...I guess, I kind of gave up after that, again," Steve continued. "I tried to be supportive but...it was hard. I hated being around her, and having to pretend that it wasn't killing me. I hated being so close, and having her attention focused on someone else, you know? I suppose, in the end, having to go through that just made me fall even harder. And then we went into hiding. For so long it was just us and...I just couldn't bring myself to tell you. I wanted to, every day. I would wake up and want to tell you how I felt, I'd spend the entire day making up excuses about why I shouldn't, and then I'd fall asleep hating myself for not."

Natasha stared at him in silence. Steve sighed.

"I'm sorry," Steve said. "I know now's not the best time. Especially since Bruce is back. I just...If I don't make it-"

Natasha slapped him, then grabbed him by the straps on the front of his uniform, pulling him to herself and kissing him. Steve blinked in surprise before kissing her back, hands resting on the small of her back as her own released his straps, simply resting against his chest. After several seconds, she pulled back, resting her head against his chest.

"Don't you ever say you're not going to make it," Natasha said. "I can't do this without you. Not now."

Steve rested his head on top of hers and sighed, smiling to himself. "Sorry. You're right. Don't worry. I'll be here for as long as you'll have me."

"Let's just focus on making it trough this fight alive," Natasha said. "Stay alive. No matter what, stay alive. For me. Please."

"I'll do my best," Steve said.

Natasha nodded, stepping back and turning back to the weapons. Off to the side, Damian leaned against a locker beside Bucky Barnes, staring at his black and gold Vibranium arm, which was bigger around than Daniel's splinted one, which looked more like Bucky's old arm.

"Nice arm," Damian said. "Want to see which is better?"

Bucky grinned, walking over to a short table and sitting down on an ammo crate, Damian sitting across from him. Steve looked over and crossed his arms.

"Is now really the best time?" Steve asked. "Besides, how do you wrestle same-side hands?"

"Both directions," Damian said. "You want to go backhand or forward first?"

"I'll do backhand," Bucky said.

Damian gripped the back of Bucky's hand and began to push, Bucky pushing against him. Slowly, Damian began to overpower him, reaching the table after about six seconds. Then, they switched, and Bucky began to push Damian's hand. After about five seconds, Damian's hand hit the table. Damian rolled his eyes.

"I'm still a better fighter," Damian said.

Bucky laughed, picking up a machine gun with a long banana mag sticking out of the side. "This makes me better. It has an endless supply of energy blasts in place of bullets."

"Why do I never get anything good?" Damian grumbled.

He turned, walking out of the armory, meeting T'Challa and his general at the front of the building just as the last of the Wakandan soldiers left. The others arrived a moment later and they all headed outside. Bruce was in the Hulk Buster armor, Hulk having refused to respond when Damian and Wanda both had tried talking to him, and Wanda had tried to use her abilities to make contact. The Wakandan soldiers formed into ranks in front of the barrier were the massive general Tony had fought and the female from Scotland were both standing, the female holding a thin, double-edged short sword. T'Challa, Steve, Natasha, and Damian all walked to the barrier, stopping in front of it as the woman dragged her sword across the barrier.

"Give us the Mind Stone," the girl said.

"Where's your other friend?" Natasha asked the female.

"You shall pay for his life with yours," the female growled. "Thanos _will_ have the stone."

"You are in Wakanda now," T'Challa said. "Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood."

"We," the female said, "have blood to spare."

She lifted her sword and the ships began to open. Damian took a step back as a roar echoed through the air, deafeningly loud.

"Get back," Steve said.

They all backed away, returning to the others and turning to face the barrier again as creatures began to flood out of the trees by the hundreds, all black and vaguely reptilian, standing on two legs with four arms, no eyes, and huge mouths filled with terrifyingly sharp teeth. They were fast too. In seconds they had crossed the couple hundred meters from the trees to the barrier. Then, they began to hurl themselves against it. The barrier burned through their scaled flesh rapidly, the first few dozen to try either burning away completely or managing to force themselves halfway through the barrier before it sheered them in half. Then, one got through. It was badly burned, but it was alive. It had lost an arm to the barrier, but it landed on the other arms and its legs and roared, charging forward. Damian swatted a hand downward and a blue barrier formed over the creature, streaking downward and flattened it. Then another was through. Then another. And another. Then several. Finally, they were starting to get through rather quickly.

"To war!" T'Challa said, the Wakandans beginning to open fire along with Bruce and Bucky.

Damian missed having a gun of his own. He drew his sword in his left hand and flexed his right hand before pressing the switch on his watch, extending his armor and curling his hand into a fist.

"They're holding it open for each other," Damian said as a large group rushed through, maybe two dozen, only for Rhodey to fly over them, dropping bombs and slaughtering them, the explosion blowing the creatures in the hole back outward.

Then, the aliens began to spread out, beginning to circle the barrier. Damian rolled his eyes. They definitely had the numbers to do it.

"Cap, if these things circle the perimeter and get in behind us, there's nothing between them and Vision!" Bruce said.

"Then we'd better keep them in front of us," Steve said.

"How do we do that?" T'Challa's general asked.

"We open the barrier," T'Challa said, raising a hand to his communicator. "On my signal, open north west section seventeen."

"Requesting confirmation my King," a woman on the other side responded. "You said _open_ the barrier?"

"On my signal," T'Challa said.

"This will be the end of Wakanda," M'Baku, the leader of the mountain tribe of Wakandans who opposed the use of Vibranium, said.

"Then it will be the noblest ending in history," T'Challa's general said.

T'Challa shouted something, the River Tribe warriors at the front dropping their capes, which generated barriers of their own. Then, T'Challa walked to the front, crossing his arms and forming his mask.

"Wakanda forever!" T'Challa shouted.

As he did, he charged, along with everyone else. Then, he radioed for the barrier to be opened and sped on ahead, Damian and Steve at his sides. They crashed into the oncoming wall of creatures hard, Damian sending out a blast of psychic energy as he punched the first, slaughtering a group of them. Then, the creatures were on them, Damian slashing anything he could reach, caving in their skulls and chests with his fist in the other hand. Beside him, T'Challa was using a combination of his claws, martial arts, and his suit's ability to apparently store and release energy to blast the creatures around him. Steve was beating them to death quickly and easily with his shields. Above them, Sam was shooting anything he could find, and Rhodey was using his machine guns and rockets to plug up the bottleneck the barrier had formed. At least, until a massive chunk of metal crashed into him, throwing him away from the battle, the massive creature from New York striding through the opening. Damian twirled his sword and sprinted forward, blasting the oncoming rush of creatures. He slashed his way through several before hurling his sword at the general.

He smashed it aside with his scythe hammer, the sword landing on the ground beside him. Then, he swung at Damian. Damian ducked under the swing, the planted his right fist in the giant's abdomen. The giant doubled over and Damian coated his left hand in energy, punching him in the face. The energy exploded outward, launching the general away. Damian picked up his sword, slashing a pair of creatures before sheathing it, looking to the female general. As he did, a beam of light suddenly exploded into the ground, a hammer with an axe blade on the back, or maybe the other way around, coated in lightning and blue flames flying out and tearing through the creatures, knocking them off of T'Challa, Steve, and Banner, who had all been pinned down, before returning to Thor. Damian smiled as Thor demanded Thanos be brought to him before tearing into the creatures. Everyone else began to fight with renewed vigor and Damian turned to the female general as the giant stepped up beside her.

"Deal with him," she ordered.

The giant charged instantly, swinging his weapon at Damian again. Damian couldn't dodge it this time, so he formed a barrier, only for the weapon to smash through it, instantly giving Damian a migraine before crashing into his armor and sending him flying. Damian flipped, crashing into several creatures and knocking them to the ground where they died a moment later as Damian blasted them with energy, throwing himself to his feet. As he did, he sprinted at the massive general again. It pulled its arm back to swing and Damian sent a blast of energy into its hand, blasting the weapon into the inside of the barrier, where it was destroyed. The creature punched downward at Damian and he met the creature's fist with his own, his mechanical arm halting the much larger one before Damian jumped, flipping over the general's fist and slamming a kick into the side of its head, making it stagger to the side. Just as it stopped, Bucky jumped, slamming his own fist into the side of its head, making it stagger sideways to Damian, who used his mechanical arm to sweep the general's legs out from under him before flipping, propelling himself with his powers and slamming his feet down on the general's back at the same time as Bucky's fist collided with it. The general roared, blood spraying out of his mouth, and both leapt backward. Just as they did, the ground under the barrier suddenly exploded, a massive line of sharpened wheel-like machines erupting out of it, only to light up blue and rise into the air, then be ripped off of the chunk of metal holding them in a line. Then, Damian slammed one of them down on the general he and Bucky were fighting and sent the rest tearing out of the barrier through the creatures.

"Nice," Bucky said.

"Won't make much difference in the long run," Damian said.

Just then, the one he had dropped on the general exploded apart, the general roaring as he charged at them, bleeding from numerous gashes but wielding a jagged chunk of metal like a sword. Bucky leapt aside as Damian slammed his hands into the ground, the ground under the general exploding and sending him flying skyward. As he began to fall, Bucky lifted his machine gun, opening fire and sending energy blasts tearing into the general, thick black blood raining down around them. Then, the general landed hard, roaring and lunging for Bucky, only for Damian to step into the way, driving his arm's blade into the general's face, stopping him in his tracks before ripping it back out and retracting it.

"No fair," Bucky said. "I want one of those."

"Sucks to suck," Damian said. "Let's go."

Bucky nodded, grinning, and they began to tear into the creatures again, Damian using his hands this time and Bucky with his Vibranium arm and his gun both. Then, suddenly, the female crashed into Damian, lifting him off the ground and charging through several ranks of creatures before throwing him into a trench formed by the wheeled machines. Damian crashed down on his back and groaned, the wind having been knocked out of him, despite his armor. He pushed himself up, watching the woman drop into the trench with her sword, glaring at him. Damian drew his own sword, holding it with both hands, readying himself. She charged, slashing at him rapidly and he deflected the slashes as best he could, managing to keep from getting killed. The woman allowed him a chance to slash, so instead, he stomped a foot, a blast of energy shooting out and hurling her backward.

"Don't forget who you're dealing with," Damian growled.

"I won't," she snarled, standing and pulling out a second sword, charging.

Damian switch his sword to his left hand, extending his right hand's blade and began to again fend her off, struggling even more this time. Finally she planted a kick into his chest and he crashed to the ground, losin his sword. He retracted his right arm's blade just as the woman reached him, stabbing downward. He grunted as it impacted with his armor, feeling like he had been kicked by a horse but not even leaving a mark on the armor. Damian smirked, drilling a punch into her face with his right hand, throwing her backward. She flipped, crashing down hard before flipping to her feet, looking to her swords, which were off to the side.

"I don't think so," Damian said, dropping into a martial arts stance. "We're doing this the fun way."

She smirked, a blade extending from under each wrist as she sprinted forward, Damian rolling his eyes. As she reached him, she began to slash rapidly, Damian using his right arm's blade to block the strikes. Then, he sidestepped a stab and slashed downward with his right arm, his blade glowing as it generated energy, then slashed through the blade she had stabbed at him with, just shy of taking her hand with it. She shouted in rage, stabbing with the other hand but he caught her wrist and swung upward, taking that blade off as well. She slammed a punch into his jaw and he staggered away before turning just in time to see Natasha plant both feet into her face, hurling her into the side of the trench, T'Challa's general dropping into the trench opposite Thanos's general.

"We'll handle this," Natasha said. "You go and thin the creatures a bit."

Just as she said this, the female lunged, slamming a fist into Natasha's gut before dropping, grabbing her sword and spinning, stabbing at Natasha's back. Damian caught her arm by the inside of the elbow and turned, hurling her. T'Challa's general stepped past him, stabbing at Thanos's, only for the enemy to knock the spear aside and stab at T'Challa's general. Damian held out a hand, a blue barrier forming and stopping the stab, allowing T'Challa's general to slam her spear into the underside of the female's jaw, throwing her backward. Damian dropped, setting his hands on the ground and blue energy shot outward, reaching the ground where the woman landed before exploding into the air, the female spinning through the air into the barrier, frying instantly. Damian sighed, leaning back and groaning, rubbing his chest where she had tried to stab him.

"That bitch hurt," Damian said. "Thanks for the backup."

"Thanks for the save," Natasha said.

Then, their communicators turned on.

"Vision!"

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	23. Chapter 23

I do not own any of the original Avengers characters. I hated the way Ebony Maw died.

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Fall

"Vision!"

Damian turned toward the tower to see the creature that had supposedly died before explode out of a window with Vision and Wanda, Wanda falling away as Vision and the other creature flew out into the air a bit before falling, crashing down in the forest just outside the city. Damian leapt out of the trench instantly, reporting that he was en route over the radio and sprinting away, flying past creatures and humans both, killing any creatures he could reach easily. After several minutes, far too long, he reached the trees only to suddenly fly sideways into one and explode through it, crashing to the ground. He rolled over, looking up as the skinnier creature that had been in New York stepped into view from behind a tree.

"Fuck, you're a goddam wizard, aren't you?" Damian snarled, standing.

"No," the creature said. "You may call me Ebony Maw. And I possess the ability to move objects with my mind. A lesser creature such as yourself could never hope to-"

Damian swiped a hand, the ground to his right ripping apart and fling at Ebony Maw, who swiped his own hand, sending the debris scattering into the woods. Damian sprinted forward, shoving a hand at Maw as Maw tried to throw him, a blue energy barrier appearing around Damian just in time for Damian to slam his fist into the wise of Maw's jaw, making him stagger backward. Maw growled in rage, reaching out then ripping both hands backward. Damian spun, expecting a wall of debris, or several trees to be flying at him. Instead, nothing was there. A moment later, a single tree as big around as his torso crashed into his back, hurling him forward. He flipped, getting under the tree and planting his feet with his arms raised, one up and in front of him, the other behind him, blue energy swarming around the tree. Then, he swung his arms, the tree rocketing through the air at Maw, who held out a hand, the tree exploding into dozens of small wooden spikes. Maw flicked his hand forward and the spikes flew at Damian, who swung his arms upward and crossed them, a pair of massive chunks of stone erupting from the ground and crashing together, blocking the projectiles before Damian shoved his hand forward, both chunks exploding into a wall of debris and firing toward Maw. Maw swung his hand and cleared the debris just before Damian drilled his right fist directly into Maw's face, launching him way. Maw flipped, catching himself with Telekinesis and Damian glared at him.

"I thought you took off with Doctor Strange and Iron Man," Damian said.

"I did," Maw nodded. "And I was ejected from my own ship as a result. I'd have frozen to death if I hadn't ben saved.

"By who?" Damian asked.

"By me," a voice behind Damian snarled.

Damian spun just as a pale white fist with a fingerless black glove crashed into his face, hurling him backward. He flipped, crashing down hard before roots exploded out of the ground, restraining him and lifting him upright, allowing him to see a woman standing beside Maw now. She had pale skin just a few shades darker than snow, straight, snow white hair down to her waist, red eyes, a black top that barely covered her breasts and that was all, fingerless, black, shoulder-length gloves, tight black leather pants that were cut high on her hips then extremely low in the front and back in a "V", black boots, and a pair of long black cloth tails hanging from the back of her top and the back of her pants' waist on each side, four in total.

"And you are?" Damian asked.

"Black Swan," the woman said, eyes beginning to glow red. "Now die."

The energy fired from her eyes, Damian's own eyes glowing as a barrier formed and the roots holding him burst apart, hovering around him. The energy beams hit his barrier and began to fight to get through but made no progress.

"You two are keeping me from doing my job," Damian growled. "And someone I care about very deeply needs me to help her. So I'm done playing around. Sorry Black Swan. I know you just joined, but this game's over."

He shoved his hand forward, his barrier exploding outward and slamming into Black Swan, hurling her away before the root chunks shot through the air at Ebony Maw. He shoved his own hand forward, but the energy coating the wood spikes flashed and the spikes embedded themselves in him, several sticking out through is back. He stared down at them before looking up at Damian, falling to his knees.

"Just die already," Damian growled, closing his fist, a blue barrier appearing around Maw and crushing him instantly, blood splattering over the ground.

Damian's other arm snapped upward, forming a small barrier shield and blocking several short energy blasts from Black Swan, who flew down at him, punching. He leaned out of the way and she landed on her feet, Damian throwing a punch of his own, only for it to slam into a barrier made out of red energy. Then, it faded just in time for Black Swan's fist to crash into his jaw. He staggered backward and she lunged at him. He growled as she fired an energy blast from her eyes. He leaned out of the way, extending his right hand's blade then turned, driving it up into her heart through her ribs. She gasped harshly, struggling to breath and he ripped the blade back out, blood splashing to the ground before flooding out of her wound. He shoved her away, making her fall to the ground before he turned in the direction he could sense Wanda fighting from, sprinting that way. After several seconds, he reached the fight just as the general that had taken Vision out of the building slammed his staff into the side of Wanda's head, knocking her unconscious.

Behind him, Vision was lying on the ground, two stab wounds in his torso and struggling to push himself up.

"I'll deal with you in a moment, machine," the general growled, turning back to Wanda and raising his spear. "Her first."

Damian slammed into him hard, driving his right hand's blade up into the general's torso, then twisting it sharply and ripping it out his side, grabbing him by the back of his shirt and spinning, hurling him like a rag doll into a tree before swiping a hand, sending the general's spear flying through the air and into the creature's back, staking him to the tree. Then, Damian turned, running to Wanda and gently shaking her awake.

"Are you okay?" Damian asked.

"Yes," Wanda said. "What kept you?"

"A couple of annoying servants of Thanos," Damian said.

Just then, Vision gasped harshly, the Mind Stone flashing as an oppressive presence seemed to suddenly weigh down on Damian.

"He's here," Vision said.

"Everyone on my position," Steve said as he stepped into the small clearing they were in, Natasha and Bruce with him. "We've got inbound."

The wind began to blow, but it felt wrong somehow. Leaves began to fall, and the oppressive presence weighed down even harder. Then, a blue ball of light and smoke appeared in the distance, opening rapidly into a hole in the fabric of reality, Thanos stepping through before the hole closed.

"Cap, it's him," Bruce said. "That's Thanos."

Damian could see five stones glowing on Thanos's hand and swiped a hand, sending a dozen trees flying at Thanos as the others charged. The purple stone flashed and purple energy rippled across the trees before exploding. Bruce threw a punch at Thanos and the blue stone glowed, Bruce turning transparent and passing through Thanos, turning and trying to stop himself, only to sink into a cliff halfway before becoming fully visible again, stuck in the cliff now.

"Wanda, destroy the stone," Damian growled, starting forward, hurling more trees at Thanos.

T'Challa leapt at Thanos just as Thanos blasted Steve aside with the purple stone, but Thanos caught him by the throat with his left hand, which held the gauntlet, then punched him with the right, sending him crashing into the ground, the energy T'Challa had accumulated dispersing harmlessly into the ground. Sam flew at Thanos, only for a blast from the purple stone to send him crashing to the ground. He rolled past in front of Thanos just before a wall of sharpened trees flew at Thanos, Thanos once again blasting them apart with the purple stone. Then, a blast of blue energy crashed into a force field Thanos had formed using the blue and purple stones and Thanos skidded backward, gritting his teeth and watching Damian carefully as Damian strode forward, eyes glowing blue again. As he approached, Rhodey opened fire at Thanos but he used the blue stone to squeeze him before tossing him aside. Bucky charged and found himself o the receiving end of a purple energy blast, as did T'Challa's general a moment later, just after Thanos had easily broken free of a living tree's arms. Damian ignored the fact that there was a living tree. Honestly he had probably seen weirder. Natasha didn't even make it to Thanos, instead tripping as the ground came alive, chunks of stone quickly growing out of the ground and pinning her down, but not hurting her.

Steve skidded around in front of Thanos, punching him several times before catching Thanos's left hand as he reached for him, holding his hand back for several seconds, earning a curious expression from Thanos before Thanos drilled his right fist into Steve's entire head, knocking him out cold. Then, Thanos stopped, watching Damian, who was holding his right hand out, bent at the elbow and parallel to the round, a blue sphere of energy hovering over his palm.

"You've absorbed some of an Infinity Stone's power," Thanos said.

"Not by choice," Damian said before the blue sphere dropped into his palm and he closed his fist.

Instantly, a dozen trees crashed into Thanos from every side, all of them broken into a sharp point. However, after a moment, they all glowed purple and exploded, Damian shielding himself with a barrier. Thanos watched him for a moment before looking past him to where Wanda was firing a constant stream of red energy into the Mind Stone from both hands. Thanos's face darkened and the blue and purple stones on his gauntlet shone, a blast of blue and purple energy flying out at Damian. Damian swiped his hand, a blast of his own energy crashing into the blast, redirecting it to the side where it blasted through several trees before fading. Thanos stopped, staring at him.

"You're powerful," Thanos said. "If I didn't know better, I'd almost believe that you had an Infinity Stone inside of you."

He made a fist again, a beam of energy flying out of all of the stones he possessed, combining into one and flashing through the air, crashing into Damian's chest and hurling him back backward at Wanda and Vision. Damian flipped, driving his feet and both hands into the ground several inches and skidding to a stop before sending out a pulse of energy, the ground below Thanos exploding into the air, only for Thanos to step out of the dust, unharmed. Damian sprinted forward, blocking a blast from the purple stone with his own power and jumped, drilling his right fist into Thanos's jaw, making him stagger backward before Damian landed, slamming his left palm into Thanos's abdomen, a blast of energy shooting off and sending Thanos stumbling backward several feet. Damian leapt straight forward again, redirecting an energy blast over himself before his right arm's blade drove itself into Thanos's abdomen. Thanos grunted and Damian hurled himself backward with his powers, barely avoiding a downward punch from Thanos that cracked the ground. He flipped, landing on his feet again before Thanos vanished in a rift, Damian sensing him behind himself. He spun, only for Thanos's fist to crash into his chest, hurling him. Then, Thanos turned to Wanda just as the Mind Stone exploded, a wave of gold energy flying outward several hundred feet. Damian pushed himself up, staring at the green stone on Thanos's gauntlet. The Time Stone. Doctor Strange's stone.

"You actually managed to destroy it," Thanos mused. "I must say, I'm impressed. And you as well, boy. If you had been on Titan with Stark and the wizard, you may actually have stopped me. Maybe. But now is not the time to discuss the way things could have been. In fact, now is no time at all."

A glowing green bracelet appeared around the gauntlet as the Time Stone shone, a circular green seal appearing in Thanos's hand before he waved it counter clockwise. Instantly, the wave of golden energy that the Mind Stone had released returned, reversing direction before reforming into the stone, the bits of Vision's body flying back over and reforming into Vision. Instantly, Wanda moved to attack Thanos only for him to backhand her, throwing her away. Damian fired a beam of his own energy at Thanos, who turned, forming a barrier in the way and blocking the energy, skidding backward several feet, gritting his teeth as he fought against the energy. His free hand reached down to Vision, who was underneath Thanos's foot. Then, he drove his fingers into Vision's head, his head crumpling like tinfoil before Thanos ripped the stone out. All of the color drained from Vision instantly, leaving nothing but a grey, human-shaped hunk of metal behind. Thanos reached around his hand, placing the Mind Stone in the back of the gauntlet and instantly the barrier flashed, Damian's power doubling back on itself and slamming into him, hurling him away. He pushed himself up, watching as multi-colored energy raced over Thanos's body.

Damian felt his blood run cold. He had seen this before. In his dream. He grit his teeth. No. He wouldn't let his dream become reality. He forced his powers to reach their peak, the ground around him being ripped apart before he swiped his arms, sending it at Thanos, only for him to make a fist, small blue rifts catching everything before spitting it back out at Damian. Damian shoved a hand forward and all of it reversed direction, Thanos blasting it with the purple stone this time. Daman sprinted at Thanos firing a constant stream o energy at Thanos, which Thanos matched with a purple stream of energy. Then, just as Damian let his blast end and ducked aside from Thanos's, Thanos's right fist swung around at Damian. Damian coated his own right fist in energy and met Thanos's punch with his own. Damian's right arm all but exploded instantly, but Thanos recoiled. Damian spun, blasting Thanos in the gut with his powers, sending Thanos exploding into the cliff above Banner, breaking Banner free. After a moment of shouting in pain and with smoke curling off of him, Thanos made a fist, Damian's energy beam vanishing. Damian blinked, shoving his hand forward again, only for bubbles to fly out of his hand.

He stared at Thanos, seeing the red stone glowing. Then, Banner slammed one of the Hulk Buster's fists into the side of Thanos's head, the fist shattering on contact, but making Thanos's head turn to the side, his hand opening. Damian hurled a tree at Thanos as Thanos began to turn to Banner. The tree crashed into Thanos's chest, unfortunately not sharpened, and shattered, throwing Thanos backward into the cliff again. Damian yanked his hand backward and the cliff exploded, Thanos looking up as the cliff crashed down on top of him. For a moment, nothing happened, then the stones glowed purple, blue, and red and rose into the air, reforming into a massive humanoid. It roared, thundering toward Damian, who swiped a hand, the ground beside the stone giant exploding, blowing the giant apart. Damian turned back to Thanos and shoved a hand forward as the same time as Wanda stepped up beside him, firing two energy beams to Damian's one. Thanos blocked them with a barrier once again, but just as he did, Thor's axe suddenly spun out of the sky, burying itself in Thanos's chest, just too far to the right to hit his heart. Damian and Wanda ended their energy beams as Thor landed in front of Thanos, shoving the axe deeper.

Thanos groaned and tried several times to speak before finally succeeding. "You should have gone for the head."

Damian fired an energy beam at Thanos's hand instantly, but Thanos snapped his fingers. A blinding light flashed out of the gauntlet, blinding everyone momentarily before the light faded and left Thanos with his left arm, including the gauntlet, horribly burned and the gauntlet partially melted.

"What'd you just do?" Thor demanded, only for Thanos to form a portal with the blue stone and fall backward into it, leaving the axe behind.

Steve walked over, holding his side. "Where'd he go? Thor? Where'd he go?"

Damian could barely breathe. In his dream, those Thanos had killed had turned to ash. First had been Bucky. He turned seeing Bucky call out to Steve before turning to ash and collapsing, leaving only his gun behind. Next, was T'Challa. He turned again.

"Up, general, up!" T'Challa said, kneeling beside her and reaching out to help her up. "This is no place to die."

Then, just as she gripped his arm, he turned to dust, blowing away and dropping her back to the ground, confused and scared. Next was the little living tree. Damian looked, seeing it leaning against a tree, a raccoon wearing clothes standing a short distance away, pleading with the three, apparently Groot, to stay. Damian's blood ran even colder. She was next.

He spun, grabbing her by the sides of the face focusing his powers. Focusing on her. Every inch of skin. Every muscle. Every bone. Every cell. His head screamed in agony, and he felt tears falling down his face as he sobbed. Wanda smiled knowingly, resting a hand over hers, her legs starting to disintegrate slowly, the line between body and ash slowly crawling up her legs from her feet and starting at her fingertips, though barely progressing at all from there.

"Damian, it's okay," Wanda smiled. "It doesn't hurt."

"No!" Damian said, pushing harder, seeing the change slow almost to a stop. "I can't lose you! I won't! I need you!"

He pushed harder. Maybe if he could just wait it out. If he could just hang on, maybe it would go away, and leave her alone. She could get prosthetics if se had to. Wanda smiled, tears of her own beginning to fall. She brushed his tears away, gently trailing her fingers through his hair.

"It won't stop, no matter how long you hold it off," Wanda said. "You know that. You can sense it as much as I can."

"I won't let it take you!" Damian sobbed. "I need you!"

"Damian," Wanda smiled. "I love you. So much. I'm so grateful for the time we spent together. I'm so sorry I have to go."

"No!" Damian sobbed. "Stop saying that! I'm going to...I'm going to save you!"

Wanda smiled, leaning forward and kissing Damian. Damian kissed her back, feeling his heart shatter as whatever force was trying to take her suddenly shoved against his control, his powers instantly failing and ceasing to hold it back.

"I love you," Wanda smiled.

"I love you too," Damian said.

Wanda smiled, kissing him again just before turning to ash. Damian broke. He fell forward, pressing his forehead to the ground and screaming in pain and loss. He sobbed hard, feeling his power beginning to rapidly spike out of control. He ignored it. He couldn't control it without her anyway. She had always been his reason for being able to control it. Damian screamed again as his heart throbbed, both literally and in an emotional sense. The ground around him began to crack and glow blue. He heard Steve shouting to him, and heard Natasha and Rhodey telling everyone to stay back. Again he ignored it. Memories began to play through his head. The first time he had met Wanda, back when they had all just finished being experimented on. He had used humor to take her mind off of the pain of the experiments. He remembered meeting up with her again after having rejoined Colonel Fury. He remembered saving Pietro, and the look of gratitude on Wanda's face. He remembered seeing her again the first time after the desert. He remembered their first kiss. Their vacation in Jamaica. Their first time after dealing with Hela. Finally, he remembered the feeling of their final kiss and what little remained of his heart shattered. With one final strangled cry of pain, his powers finally erupted. The ground around him exploded outward for hundreds of feet, the others all being thrown. Trees hit by the blast were blasted into splinters instantly, the ground was reduced into debris the size of a fist, and blasted from as deep as thirty feet at the beginning then sloping back upward toward the edge of blast radius. The others all escaped serious injury, miraculously, and turned to Damian as his body began to glow light blue in the pillar of stone it was on. Then, Damian screamed and transformed into a bright blue sphere of energy that shot outward, reducing anything it hit to ash for a hundred feet, forming itself a whole new crater, before shrinking out of existence, taking Damian with it.

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